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| The Golden Legend: Of the Epiphany of Our Lord |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2021, 07:56 AM - Forum: Christmas
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The Golden Legend: Epiphany
Here followeth the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord and of the three kings.
The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord is adorned of four miracles, and after them it hath four names. On this day the kings worshipped Jesu Christ, and S. John Baptist baptized him. And Jesu Christ changed this day water into wine, and he fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread. When Jesu Christ was in the age of thirteen days the three kings came to him the way like as the star led them, and therefore this day is called Epiphany, or the thiephanye in common language. And is said of this term epi, which is as much as to say as above, and of this term phanes which is as much to say as apparition. For then the star appeared above them in the air, where the same Jesus by the star that was seen above them showed him to the kings. And that day twenty-nine years passed, that was at the entry of thirty years, for he had twenty-nine years and thirteen days, and began the thirtieth year as saith S. Luke. Or after this that Bede saith, he had thirty years complete, as the Church of Rome holdeth. And then he was baptized in the flood or river of Jordan, and therefore it is called the thiephanie said of Theos, which is as much to say as God, and phanes apparition. For then God, that is the Trinity, appeared, God the Father in voice, God the Son in flesh human, God the Holy Ghost in likeness of a dove. After this, that same day a year, when he was thirty-one year old and thirteen days, he turned water into wine, and therefore it is called Bethania, said of beth, that is to say an house, and phanes, that is apparition. And this miracle was done of the wine in an house by which he showed him very God. And this same day a year after that was thirty-two years, he fed five thousand men with five loaves, like as Bede saith. And is also sung in an hymn which beginneth: Illuminans altissimus. And therefore it is called phagiphania, of phage, that is to say meat. And of this fourth miracle some doubt if it were done on this day, for it is not written of Bede expressly, and because that in the gospel of S. John is read that it was done nigh unto Pasque. Therefore the four apparitions were set on this day. The first by the star unto the crib or racke; the second by the voice of the Father on flom Jordan; the third of the water into wine at the house of Archedeclyn; the fourth by the multiplication of five loaves in desert. Of the first apparition we make solemnity on this day principally, and therefore pursue we the history such as it is.
When our Lord was born, the three kings came into Jerusalem, of whom the names be written in Hebrew, that is to wit Galgalath, Magalath, and Tharath. And in Greek Appelius, Amerius, and Damascus. And in Latin Jaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. And it is to wit that this name Magus hath three significations. It is said illuser or deceiver, enchanter, and wise. They been illusers or deceivers because they deceived Herod. For they returned not by him when they departed from the place where they had honoured and offered to Jesus, but returned by another way into their country. Magus also is said enchanter. And hereof be said the enchanters of Pharaoh, Magi, which by their malefice made their marvels by the enchanting of the craft of the devil. And S. John Chrysostom calleth these kings Magos, as wicked and evil-doers.
For first they were full of malefices, but after they were converted. To whom God would show his Nativity, and bring them to him to the end that to sinners he would do pardon. Item, Magus in same wise. For Magus in Hebrew is said doctor, in Greek, philosopher, and in Latin, wise, whereof they be said Magi, that is to say great in wisdom. And these three came into Jerusalem with a great company and great estate. But wherefore came they to Jerusalem when the child was not born there? S. Remigius assigneth four reasons. The first reason is that, the kings had knowledge of the nativity of the Child that was born of the Virgin Mary, but not of the place. And because that Jerusalem was the most city royal and there was the see of the sovereign priest, they thought that so noble a child, so nobly showed ought to be born in the most noble city that was royal. The second cause was, for in Jerusalem were the doctors and the wise men by whom they might know where the said child was born. The third cause was to the end that the Jews should have none excusation. For they might have said that they had knowledge of the place where he should be born, but the time knew they not, and therefore they might say, we believe it not. And the kings showed to them the time, and the Jews showed the place. The fourth to the doubt of the Jews and their curiosity, for these kings believed one only prophet, and the Jews believed not many. They sought a strange king, and the Jews sought not their own king. These kings came from far countries, and the Jews were neighbours fast by. These kings were successors of Balaam, and came at the vision and sight of the star, by the prophecy of their father, which said that a star shall be born or spring out of Jacob, and a man shall arise of the lineage of Israel. That other cause that moveth them to come to Jerusalem putteth S. John Chrysostom, which saith that there were some that affirmed for truth that, there were great clerks that curiously studied to know the secrets of heaven; and after, they chose twelve of them to take heed. And if any of them died, his son or next kinsman shall be set in his place. And these twelve every year ascended upon a mountain which was called Victorial, and three days they abode there, and washed them clean, and prayed our Lord that he would show to them the star that Balaam had said and prophesied before.
Now it happened on a time that they were there the day of the Nativity of Jesu Christ, and a star came over them upon this mountain which had the form of a right fair child, and under his head was a shining cross, which spake to these three kings saying:
Quote:Go ye hastily into the land of Judea, and there ye shall find the king that ye seek, which is born of a virgin.
Another cause putteth S. Austin; for it might well be that the angel of heaven appeared to them which said: the star that ye see is Jesu Christ, go ye anon and worship him. Another cause putteth S. Leo, that by the star which appeared to them, which was more resplendent and shining than the other, that it showed the sovereign king to be born on the earth. Then anon departed they for to come to that place. Now may it be demanded how, in so little space of thirteen days they might come from so far as from the East unto Jerusalem, which is in the middle of the world, which is a great space and a long way.
Thereto answereth S. Remigius the doctor, and saith that, the child to whom they went, might well make them to go so much way in that while. Or after this that S. Jerome saith, that they came upon dromedaries, which be beasts that may go as much in one day as an horse in three days. And when they came into Jerusalem, they demanded in what place the King of Jews was born. And they demanded not if he was born, for they believed it firmly that he was born. And if any had demanded of them: Whereby know ye that he is born? They would have answered: We have seen his star in the Orient, and therefore we come to worship him. This is to understand, we being in the Orient saw his star that showed that he was born in Judea, and we be come to worship him. And therefore saith this doctor Remigius, that they confessed this child very man, very King, and very God. Very man when they said where is he that is born? very King when they said King of Jews; very God when they said we be come to worship him. For there was a commandment that none should be worshipped but God.
And thus as saith S. John Chrysostom: They confessed the child very God by word, by deed, and by gifts of their treasures that they offered to him. And when Herod had heard this he was much troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Herod was troubled for three causes, first, because he dreaded that the Jews would receive the child born for their King, and refuse he would worship also him, and thought that he would go slay him. And it is to wit that as soon as they were entered into Jerusalem, the sight of the star was taken from them and for three causes: First, that they should be constrained to seek that place of his nativity like as they were certified by the appearing of the star and by the prophecy of the place of his birth, and so it was done. Secondly, that they that sought the help and the world, had deserved to lose the aid divine. The third because that the signs be given to miscreants, and prophecies to them that believe well like, as the apostle saith.
And therefore the sign which was given to the three kings, which yet were paynims ought not to appear to them as long as they were with the Jews. And when they were issued of Jerusalem, the star appeared to them, which went before them, and brought them till it came above the place where the Child was. And ye ought to know that there be three opinions of this star, which Remigius the doctor putteth, saying that: Some say that it was the Holy Ghost which appeared to the three kings in the form of a star, which after appeared upon the head of Jesu Christ in the likeness of a dove. Others say, like to S. John Chrysostom, that it was an angel that appeared to the shepherds, and after appeared to the kings, but to the shepherds, Jews, as to them that use reason in form of a reasonable creature, and to the paynims as unreasonable, that is to say of a star. Others say more reasonably and more veritably that it was a star new created, and made of God, the which when he had done his office was brought again into the matter whereof it was first formed. And this star was this that Fulgentius saith: It differenced from the other stars in three things. First, in situation, for it was not fixed in the firmament, but it hung in the air nigh to the earth. Secondly, in clearness, for it was shining more than the others. It appeared so that the clearness of the sun might not hurt nor appale her light, but at plain mid-day it had right great light and clearness. Thirdly, in moving, for it went alway before the kings in manner of one going in the way, ne it had none turning as a circle turneth, but in such manner as a person goeth in the way. And when the kings were issued out of Jerusalem, and set in their way, they saw the star whereof they had lost the sight, and were greatly enjoyed.
And we ought to note that there be five manners of stars that these kings saw. The first is material, the second spiritual, the third intellectual, the fourth reasonable, the fifth substantial. The first, that is material, they saw in the East; the second, that is spiritual, they saw in heart, and that is in the faith. For if this faith had not been in their hearts that had lighted them, they had never seen the star material. They had faith of the humanity when they said: Where is he that is born? and of his royal dignity when they called him King of Jews, and of his deity when they said they went to worship him. The third intellectual, which is, that the angel that they saw in vision, when it was by the angel showed to them that they should not return by Herod, how be it that after one gloss it was our Lord that warned them. The fourth, that was reasonable, that was the Virgin Mary whom they saw in the stable holding her child. The fifth, that is substantial, that is to say that he had substance above all other singular. And that was Jesu Christ whom they saw in the crib. And hereof is it said in the gospel that they entered into the house and found the child with Mary his mother, and then they worshipped him. And when they were entered into the house secretly and had found the child, they kneeled and offered to him these three gifts, that is to wit gold, incense, and myrrh. And this saith S. Austin: O infantia, cui astra subduntur, etc.
O infancy or childhood, to whom the stars be subject, to whose clothes angels bow, the stars give virtue, the kings joy, and the followers of wisdom bow their knees. O blessed tigury or little house, O holy seat of God. And S. Jerome saith: This is an heaven where is no light but the star. O palace celestial in which thou dwellest, not as King adorned with precious stones, but incorporate. To whom, for a soft bed was duresse and hard crib, for curtains of gold and silk, the fume and stench of dung, but the star of heaven was clearly embellished. I am abashed when I behold these clothes and see the heaven. The heart burneth me for hete when I see him in the crib, a poor mendicant, and over him the stars. I see him right clear, right noble, and right rich. O ye kings, what do ye? Ye worship the child in a little foul house wrapped in foul clouts. Is he then not God? Ye offer to him gold, and whereof is he King, and where is his royal hall? Where is his throne? Where is his court royal, frequented and used with nobles? The stable is that not his hall? And his throne the rack or crib? They that frequent this court, is it not Joseph and Mary? they be as unwitting, to the end that they become wise.
Of whom saith Hilary in his second book that he made of the Trinity: The Virgin hath borne a child, but this that she hath childed is of God; the child is Iying in the rack, and the angels be heard singing and praising him, the clothes be foul, and God is worshipped. The dignity of his puissance is not taken away though the humility of his flesh is declared. Lo, how in this child Jesus were not only the humble and small things, but also the rich, and the noble, and the high things. And hereof saith S. Jerome upon the Epistle ad Hebreos: Thou beholdest the rack of Jesu Christ; see also the heaven. Thou seest also the child Iying in the crib, but take heed also how the angels sing and praise God. Herod is persecuted and the kings worship the child. The pharisees knew him not, but the star showed him. He is baptized of his servant, but the voice of the Father is heard above thundering. He is plunged in the water, but the Holy Ghost The descended upon him in likeness of a dove.
And of the cause wherefore these kings offered these gifts, many reasons be assigned. One of the causes is, as saith Remigius the doctor, that the ancient ordinance was that no man should come to God ne to the king with a void hand, but that he brought him some gift. And they of Chaldea were accustomed to offer such gifts. They, as Scholastica Historia saith, came from the end of Persia, from the Chaldeans whereas is the flood of Saba, of which flood the region of Saba is named. The second reason is of S. Bernard: For they offered to Mary, the mother of the child, gold for to relieve her poverty, incense against the stench of the stable and evil air, myrrh for to comfort the tender members of the child and to put away vermin. The third reason was that they offered gold for to pay the tribute, the incense for to make sacrifice, the myrrh for the sepulture of dead men. The fourth for the gold signifieth dilection or love; the incense, orison or prayer; the myrrh, of the flesh mortification. And these three things ought we offer to God. The fifth because by these three be signified three things that be in Jesu Christ: The precious deity, the soul full of holiness, and the entire flesh all pure and without corruption. And these three things be signified that were in the ark of Moses. The rod which flourished, that was the flesh of Jesu Christ that rose from death to life; the tables wherein the commandments were written, that is the soul, wherein be all the treasures of sapience and science of godhead. The manna signifieth the godhead, which hath all sweetness of suavity. By the gold which is most precious of all metals is understood the Deity; by the incense the soul right devout, for the incense signifieth devotion and orison; by the myrrh which preserveth from corruption, is understood the flesh which was without corruption.
And the kings when they were admonished and warned by revelation in their sleep that they should not return by Herod, and by another way they should return into their country, lo hear then how they came and went in their journey. For they came to adore and worship the King of kings in their proper persons, by the star that led them, and by the prophet that enseigned and taught them. And by the warning of the angel returned and rested at their death in Jesu Christ. Of whom the bodies were brought to Milan, where as now is the convent of the friars preachers, and now be at Cologne in S. Peter's Church, which is the Cathedral and See of the Archbishop. Then let us pray unto Almighty God that this day showed him to these kings and at his baptism, where the voice of the Father was heard and the Holy Ghost seen, and at the feast turned water into wine, and fed five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes, that at the reverence of this high and great feast he forgive us our trespasses and sins, and after this short life we may come to his everlasting bliss in heaven. Amen.
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| Epiphany Hymn - We Three Kings of orient Are |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2021, 07:45 AM - Forum: Christmas
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We Three Kings Of Orient Are
3 Kings:
1. We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts, we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
Chorus:
O Star of Wonder, Star of Night,
Star with Royal Beauty bright,
Westward leading, Still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect Light.
Gaspar:
2. Born a King on Bethlehem plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever,
Ceasing never
Over us all to reign. Chorus
Melchior:
3. Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh:
Prayer and praising
All men raising,
Worship Him God on high. Chorus
Balthazar:
4. Myrrh is mine; it’s bitter perfume;
Breathes a life of gathering gloom: —
Sorrowing, sighing,
Bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb. Chorus
3 Kings:
5. Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and sacrifice.
Heav'n sings
Halleluia;
Hallelujah the earth replies. Chorus
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| Christmas and Epiphany Hymn - The First Noel |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2021, 07:41 AM - Forum: Christmas
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The First Noel
The First Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
in fields as they lay;
In fields as they lay, keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east beyond them far,
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.
Noel, Noel, etc....
And by the light of that same star
Three wise men came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, etc....
This star drew nigh to the northwest,
O'er Bethlehem it took it rest,
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, etc....
Then entered in those wise men three
Full reverently upon their knee,
and offered there in his presence
Their gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, etc.
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| Feast of the Epiphany |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2021, 07:25 AM - Forum: Christmas
- Replies (10)
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INSTRUCTION ON THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY
Taken from Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays throughout the Ecclesiastical Year, 1880
What festival is this?
This festival is set apart to solemnly commemorate the coming of the three wise men from the East, guided by a miraculous star which appeared to them, and directed them to Bethlehem, where they found Christ in the stable; here they honored and adored Him and offered gifts to Him.
Why is this day called Epiphania Domini, or Apparition of the Lord?
Because the Church wishes to bring before our mind the three great events in the life of Christ, when He made known to man His divinity: the coming of the wise men from the East, through whom He revealed Himself to the Gentiles as the Son of God; His baptism, on which occasion His Divinity was made known to the Jews, and His first miracle at the marriage of Cana, by which He revealed Himself to His disciples.
In the INTROIT of the Mass the Church sings today with joy: Behold the Lord the Ruler is come; and the kingdom is in his hand, and power and dominion (Mal. 3). Give to the king thy judgment, O God; and to the king's son thy justice (Ps. 71:1). Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT God, Who on this day by the leading of a star didst reveal Thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; mercifully grant, that we who know Thee now by faith may be brought to contemplate the beauty of Thy majesty. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE (Is. 60:1-6). Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the peoples; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see; all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha; all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praise to the Lord.
EXPLANATION The Prophet Isaias, in this epistle, predicts that the light of the Lord, which is Christ, will rise over Jerusalem, the prototype of the Church, and that the Gentiles who knew nothing of the true God, would come to walk in that light which Christ, by His doctrine and holy life, would cause to shine, and that numberless nations, from all parts of the world, would assemble as her children to adore the one true God. The fulfillment of this prophecy commenced with the adoration of the Magi, who are to be regarded as the first Christian converts of the Gentiles; the Church, therefore, very properly celebrates this day with great solemnity. We ought also to share in the joy of the Church, because our ancestors were Gentiles, and like the three wise men were called to the true faith. Let us exclaim with Isaias: Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones (Is. 49:13).
GOSPEL (Mt. 2:1-12). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him. And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda; for so it is written by the prophet: And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come forth the ruler that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, privately calling the wise men, learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them; and sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him. Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother and falling down they adored him. And opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.
What caused the three kings to undertake so tedious a journey?
A star which God permitted to appear in their land, at the sight of which they were inwardly enlightened, so that they at once recognized its signification. Let us learn from these kings who so readily responded to the inspiration of God, by immediately undertaking so difficult a journey, to follow without delay the promptings of divine grace, and from their zeal, and the fearlessness with which they asked Herod where the Messiah would be found, we should learn to seek and practice, without fear of men, whatever is necessary for our salvation.
Why did Herod fear, and all Jerusalem with him?
Because Herod, a proud, imperious, cruel, and therefore jealous king, was afraid, when he heard of a new-born king, that he would be deprived of his throne, and punished for his vices. A bad conscience is always ill at ease, and has no peace. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God (Is. 57:21). Jerusalem, that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, feared because many of them were attached to Herod, and others, especially the chief priests and the scribes, feared they would be punished for their secret crimes, when the Messiah would come, of whom they knew that He shall judge the poor with justice, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked (Is. 11:4).
Why did Herod assemble the chief priests and the scribes?
Partly to find from them where the Messiah was to be born, partly and principally because God so directed it, that Herod and the chief priests, knowing the time and place of the Messiah's birth, would have no excuse for their infidelity. In the same way God often makes known to us, in the clearest manner the most wholesome truths, yet we heed them as little as did the Jews who had sufficient knowledge of the Messiah, indeed, even showed the way to the three kings, but made no use of it for themselves, and were therefore cast away.
Why did Herod say he wished to adore the child?
This he did out of wicked hypocrisy and dissimulation. He had no other intention than to put Jesus to death, and therefore affected piety to find out exactly the time and place of His birth. Thus do those murderers of souls who desire the fall of the innocent; they do not let their evil intentions be made known at once, and so they put on sheep's clothing, feign piety and devotion, until they creep into the heart from which, by flattery and irony about religion and virtue, and by presents, they expel shame, the fear of God, and thus murder the soul.
Why did the kings fall down and adore Christ?
Because by the light of faith they saw in the Infant at Bethlehem God Himself, and, notwithstanding the poverty of His surroundings, recognized in Him the expected Messiah, the new-born king of the Jews, and by prostrating themselves before Him paid Him the homage of their country.
Why did the kings offer gold, frankincense and myrrh?
Because it was the ancient Eastern custom, never to appear without presents before a prince or king, and the three kings, as the holy Fathers universally teach, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, desired by their presents to honor Christ as God, as king, and as man. Of this the venerable Bede writes: "The first of the kings, named Melchior, offered gold to Christ the Lord and king; the second, named Caspar, frankincense to the divinity of Christ; and the third, Balthassar, myrrh, by which was expressed that Christ, the Son of man, must die."
How can we bring similar offerings to Christ?
We offer gold to Him, when we love Him with our whole heart, and out of love to Him, present Him our will by perfect obedience and continual self-denial, as our will is our most precious treasure. We also offer Him gold when we assist the poor by alms given in His name. We offer Him frankincense when we devoutly and ardently pray to Him, especially when we meditate upon His omnipotence, love, goodness, justice and mercy. We offer Him myrrh when we avoid carnal desires, mortify our evil inclinations and passions, and strive for purity of body and soul.
Why did the kings return by another way to their own country?
This they did by command of God. From the example of the three wise men we should learn to obey God rather than man, that we must be obedient to His directions, even if we do not understand them; so the three kings obeyed, although they may not have understood why God commanded them to flee from Herod. After we have found God we should walk in the path of virtue, and not return to our old sinful ways. "Our fatherland is paradise, heaven," writes St. Gregory. "We have departed from it by pride, disobedience, abuse of the senses, therefore it is needed that we return to it by obedience, contempt of the world, and by taming the desires of the flesh; thus we return to our own country by another road. By forbidden pleasures we have forfeited the joys of paradise, by penance we must regain them."
ASPIRATION Give me, O divine Savior, the faith of those Eastern kings. Enlighten my understanding with the light which enlightened them, and move my heart, that I may in future follow this light, and sincerely seek Thee who hast first sought me. Grant also, that I may really find Thee, with the wise men may adore Thee in spirit and in truth, and bring to Thee the gold of love, the frankincense of prayer, and the myrrh of penance and mortification, that, having here offered Thee the sacrifice of my faith, I may adore Thee in Thy eternal glory. Amen.
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| Morning Offering for the Salvation of Aborted Infants |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-05-2021, 11:56 PM - Forum: Prayers and Devotionals
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MORNING OFFERING FOR THE
SALVATION OF ABORTED INFANTS
Lord Jesus, through the hands of Thy Blessed Mother,
I offer Thee all my thoughts, words and actions this day
for all the intentions of Thy Most Sacred Heart. Especially,
I offer Thee all the acts of faith in Thee and Thy Love that
I perform, in order to obtain from Thy Sacred Heart the
grace of Baptism for all the innocent babies who will be
murdered by abortion today. Because their own fathers and
mothers will violently refuse them life, and thus refuse to
stand before Thee as guarantors of their babies' faith in Thee,
accept me as the spiritual father/mother of those babies. And,
within the divine economy of Thy Mystical Body, accept me as
guarantor of those babies' desire to be with Thee forever.
So that, having been killed most cruelly, they may be admitted
to Thy presence as sinless martyrs to the truth of Thy Love and
Thy Salvation. I ask this for Thy Holy Name's sake. Amen.
by Father Malachi Martin
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| Homily on Marriage by St. John Chrysostom |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-05-2021, 11:53 PM - Forum: Doctors of the Church
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Homily on Marriage
By St. John Chrysostom
A certain wise man, when enumerating which blessings are the most important included “a wife and husband who live in harmony (Sir. 25:1). In another place he emphasized this: “A friend or a companion never meets one amiss, but a wife with her husband is better than both.” (Sir. 40:23). From the beginning God in His providence has planned this union of man and woman, and has spoken of the two as one: male and female He created them (Gen. 1:27), and there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). There is no relationship between human beings so close as that of husband and wife, if they are united as they ought to be. When blessed David was mourning for Jonathan, who was of one soul with him, what comparison did he use to describe the loftiness of their love? Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women (II Sam. 1:26).
The power of this love is truly stronger than any passion; other desires may be strong, but this one alone never fades.
This love (eros) is deeply planted within our inmost being. Unnoticed by us, it attracts the bodies of men and women to each other, because in the beginning woman came forth from man, and from man and woman other men and women proceed. Can you see now how close this union is, and how God providentially created it from a single nature? He permitted Adam to marry Eve, who was more than sister or daughter; she was his own flesh! God caused the entire human race to proceed from this one point of origin. He did not, on the one hand, fashion woman independently from man,otherwise man would think of her as essentially different from himself. Nor did He enable woman to bear children without man; if this were the case she would be self-sufficient. Instead, just as the branches of a tree proceed from a single trunk, He made the one man Adam to be the origin of all mankind, both male and female, and made it impossible for men and women to be self-sufficient. Later, He forbade men to marry their sisters or daughters, so that our love would not be limited to members of our families, and withdrawn from the rest of the human race. All of this is implied in Christ’s words: He who made them from the beginning made them male and female (Matt. 19:4).
The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together. Men will take up arms and even sacrifice their lives for the sake of this love. St. Paul would not speak so earnestly about this subject without serious reason; why else would he say, Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord? Because when harmony prevails, the children are raised well, the household is kept in order, and neighbors, friends and relatives praise the result. Great benefits, both for families and states, are thus produced. When it is otherwise however, everything is thrown into confusion and turned upside down. When the generals of an army are at peace with each other, everything proceeds in an orderly fashion, and when they are not, everything is in disarray. It is the same here. For the sake of harmony, then, he said, Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord ….
Let us assume, then, that the husband is to occupy the place of the head, and the wife that of the body, and listen to what “headship” means: For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: and He is the Savior of the Body. There fore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. Notice that after saying the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, he immediately says that the Church is His Body, and He is Himself its Savior. It is the head that upholds the well-being of the body. In his other epistles Paul has already laid the foundations of marital love, and has assigned to husband and wife each his proper place: to the husband one of leader and provider, and to the wife one of submission. Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ–and the Church, remember, consists of both husbands and wives—so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands as to God.
You have heard how important obedience is; you have praised and marveled at Paul, how he welds our whole life together, as we would expect from an admirable and spiritual man. You have done well. But now listen to what else he requires from you; he has not finished with his example. Husbands, he says, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. You have seen the amount of obedience necessary; now hear about the amount of love necessary. Do you want your wife to be obedient to you, as the Church is to Christ? Then be responsible for the same providential care of her, as Christ is for the Church. And even if it becomes necessary for you to give your life for her, yes, and even to endure and undergo suffering of any kind, do not refuse. Even though you undergo all this, you will never have done anything equal to what Christ has done. You are sacrificing yourself for someone to whom you are already joined, but He offered Himself up for one who turned her back on Him and hated Him. In the same way, then, as He honored her by putting at His feet one who turned her back on Him, who hated, rejected, and disdained Him as tie accomplished this not with threats, or violence, or terror, or anything else like that, but through His untiring love; so also you should behave toward your wife. Even if you see her belittling you, or despising and mocking you, still you will be able to subject her to yourself, through affection, kindness, and your great regard for her. There is no influence more powerful than the bond of love, especially for husband and wife. A servant can
be taught submission through fear; but even he, if provoked too much, will soon seek his escape. But one’s partner for life, the mother of one’s children, the source of one’s every joy, should never be fettered with fear and threats, but with love and patience. What kind of marriage can there be when the wife is afraid of her husband? What sort of satisfaction could a husband himself have, if he lives with his wife as if she were a slave, and not with a woman by her own free will? Suffer anything for her sake, but never disgrace her, for Christ never did this with the Church. /…/
Paul has precisely described for husband and wife what is fitting behavior for each: she should reverence him as the head and he should love her as his body. But how is this behavior achieved? That it must be is clear; now I will tell you how. It will be achieved if we are detached from money, if we strive above everything for virtue, if we keep the fear of God before our eyes. What Paul says to servants in the next chapter applies to us as well, …knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same again from the Lord (Eph. 6:8). Love her not so much for her own sake, but for Christ’s sake. That is why he says, be subject…as to the Lord. Do everything for the Lord’s sake, in a spirit of obedience to Him. These words should be enough to convince us to avoid quarrels and disagreements. No husband should believe any accusation he hears from a third party about his wife, and vice versa; nor should a wife unreasonably monitor her husband’s comings and going, provided that he has always shown himself to be above suspicion. And what if you devote the day to your work and your friends, and the evening to your wife; but she is still not satisfied, but is jealous for more of your time? Don’t be annoyed by her complaints; she loves you, she is not behaving absurdly–her complaints come from her fervent affection for you, and from fear. Yes, she is afraid that her marriage bed will be stolen, that someone will deprive her of her greatest blessing, that someone will take from her him who is her head.
A wife should never nag her husband: “You lazy coward, you have no ambition! Look at our relatives and neighbors; they have plenty of money. Their wives have far more than I do.” Let no wife say any such thing; she is her husband’s body, and it is not for her to dictate to her head, but to submit and obey. “But why should she endure poverty?” some will ask. If she is poor, let her console herself by thinking of those who are much poorer still. If she really loved her husband, she would never speak to him like that, but would value having him close to her more than all the gold in the world…. Furnish your house neatly and soberly. If the bridegroom shows his wife that he takes no pleasure in worldly excess, and will not stand for it, their marriage will remain free from the evil influences that are so popular these days. Let them shun the immodest music and dancing that are currently so fashionable.
I am aware that many people think me ridiculous for giving such advice; but if you listen to me, you will understand the advantages of a sober lifestyle more and more as time goes on. You will no longer laugh at me, but will laugh instead at the way people live now like silly children or drunken men. What is our duty, then? Remove from your lives shameful, immodest, and Satanic music, and don’t associate with people who enjoy such profligate entertainment. When your bride sees your manner of life, she will say to herself, “Wonderful! What a wise man my husband is! He regards this passing life as nothing; he has married me to be a good mother for his children and a prudent manager of his household.” Will this sort of life be distasteful for a young bride? Only perhaps for the shortest time, and soon she will discover how delightful it is to live this way.
She will retain her modesty if you retain yours. Don’t engage in idle conversations; it never profits anyone to talk too much. Whenever you give your wife advice, always begin by telling her how much you love her. Nothing will persuade her so well to admit the wisdom of your words as her assurance that you are speaking to her with sincere affection. Tell her that you are convinced that money is not important, that only thieves thirst for it constantly, that you love her more than gold; and indeed an intelligent, discreet and pious young woman is worth more than all the money in the world. Show her that you value her company, and prefer being at home to being out. Esteem her in the presence of your friends and children. Pray together at home and go to Church; when you come back home, let each ask the other the meaning of the readings and the prayers. If you are overtaken by poverty, remember Peter and Paul, who were more honored than kings or rich men, though they spent their lives in hunger and thirst.
Remind one another that nothing in life is to be feared, except offending God. If your marriage is like this, your perfection will rival the holiest of monks.
If we seek the things that are perfect, the secondary things will follow. The Lord says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).
What sort of person do you think the children of such parents will be? What kind of person are all the others who associate with them? Will they not eventually be the recipients of countless blessings as well? For generally the children acquire the character of their parents, are formed in the mold .of their parents’ temperament, love the same things their parents love, talk in the same fashion, and work for the same ends. If we order our lives in this way and diligently study the Scriptures, we will find lessons to guide us in everything we need!
A selection from On Marriage and Family Life by St. John Chrysostom
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| Time is a Treasure by St. Alphonsus Liguori |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-05-2021, 11:44 PM - Forum: Doctors of the Church
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TIME IS A TREASURE
St. Alphonsus on the Value of Time
Selections from The Way of Salvation and of Perfection, pp. 53-55;
and from Preparation for Death, pp. 122.125.
If God calls you today to do good, do it; for tomorrow it my happen that for you time will be no more, or that God will call you no more. Selections from two of the saint's meditations on the value of time:
Time is a treasure of inestimable value, because in every moment of time we may gain an increase of grace and eternal glory. In hell the lost souls are tormented with the thought, and bitterly lament, that now there is no more time for them in which to rescue themselves by repentance from eternal misery. What would they give but for one hour of time to save themselves by an act of true sorrow from destruction! In heaven there is no grief, but if the blessed could grieve, they would do so for having lost so much time during life, in which they might have acquired greater glory, and because time is now no longer theirs.
A deceased Benedictine nun appeared in glory to a certain person, and said that she was perfectly happy, but that if she could desire anything, it would be to return to life, and to suffer pains and privations in order to merit an increase of glory. She added, that, for the glory which corresponds to a single Ave Maria, she would be content to endure till the day of judgment the painful illness which caused her death.
Time is a treasure which is found only in this life; it is not found in the next, either in hell or in heaven. The very pagans knew the value of time. Seneca said that no price is an equivalent for it. But the saints have understood its value still better. According to St. Bernadine of Siena, a moment of time is of as much value as God; because in each moment a man can, by acts of contrition or of love, acquire the grace of God and eternal glory.
I give thee thanks O God for giving me time to bewail my sins! And to make amends by my love for the offenses I have committed against thee.
Nothing is so precious as time; and yet how comes it that nothing is so little valued? Men will spend hours in jesting, or standing at a window or in the middle of the road, to see what passes; and if you ask them what they are doing, they will tell you they are passing away the time. O time, now so much despised! Thou will be of all things else the most valued by such persons when death shall have surprised them. What will they then be willing to give for one hour of so much lost time. But time will remain no longer for them when it is said to each of them, “Go forth, Christian soul, out of this world.”
My brother, how do you spend your time? Why do you always defer till tomorrow what you can do today? Remember that the time which is past is no longer yours; the future is not under your control; you have only the present for the performance of good works. “Why, O miserable man,” says St. Bernard, “do you presume on the future, as if the Father had placed time in your power?” St. Augustine asks: “How can you, who are not sure of an hour, promise yourself tomorrow?” “If then,” says St. Teresa, “you are not prepared for death today, tremble lest you die an unhappy death.”
Walk whilst you have the light [John 12: 35]. The time of death is the time of night when nothing can any longer be seen, nor anything be accomplished. The night cometh in which no man can work [John 9:4]. Hence the holy spirit admonishes us to walk in the way of the Lord, whilst we have the light and the day before us. Can we reflect that the time is near approaching in which the cause of our eternal salvation is to be decided, and still squander away time? Let us not delay, but immediately put our accounts in order, because when we least think of it, Jesus Christ will come to judge us. At what hour ye think not, the Son of man will come [Luke 12:40].
On the day of judgment, Jesus Christ will demand an account of every idle word. All the time that is not spent for God is lost time. “Believe,” says St. Bernard, “that you have lost all the time in which you have not thought of God.” Hence, the Holy Ghost says, “Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly, for neither work nor reason shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening” [Eccles. 9:10]. The Venerable Sister Jane of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Order of St. Teresa, used to say that, in the lives of the saints, there is no tomorrow. Tomorrow is found in the lives of sinners, who always say: hereafter, hereafter; and in this state they continue till death. Behold, now is the acceptable time [2 Cor. 6:2]. If today you should hear His voice, harden not your hearts [Ps. 4:8]. If God calls you today to do good, do it; for tomorrow it my happen that for you time will be no more, or that God will call you no more.
Hasten then, my Jesus, hasten to pardon me. And shall I delay? Shall I delay until I am cast into that eternal prison, where with the rest of the condemned souls, I must forever lament, saying “The summer is past, and we are not saved [Jer. 8:20]. No my Lord, I will no longer resist thy loving invitations. I desire never more to offend thee, but to forever love thee. I ask two graces: give me perseverance in Thy grace, give my Thy love; and then do with me what Thou pleasest. O Mary refuge of sinners, in thee do I place my confidence. Most Holy Mary my mother, obtain for me the grace always to recommend myself to God, and to ask him for perseverance and for his holy love.
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| How to Arrive at the Perfect Love of Jesus |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-05-2021, 11:41 PM - Forum: Doctors of the Church
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HOW TO ARRIVE AT THE PERFECT LOVE OF JESUS
From the Introduction by St. Alphonsus Liguori to his book The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ.
The lover of souls, our most loving Redeemer, declared that he had no other motive in coming down upon earth to become man than to enkindle in the hearts of men the fire of his holy love: I am come to cast fire on earth; and what will I but that it be kindled? [Luke 12:49.] And, oh, what beautiful flames of love has he not enkindled in so many souls, especially by the pains that he chose to suffer in his death, in order to prove to us the immeasurable love which he still bears to us!
Oh, how many souls, happy in the wounds of Jesus, as in the burning furnaces of love, have been so inflamed with his love that they have not refused to consecrate to him their goods, their lives, and their whole selves, surmounting with great courage all the difficulties which they had to encounter in the observance of the divine law, for the love of that Lord who, being God, chose to suffer so much for love of them!
Wherefore St. Augustine, all inflamed with love at the sight of Jesus nailed on the cross, prayed thus sweetly: “Imprint, O Lord, Thy wounds in my heart, that I may read therein suffering and love: suffering, that I may endure for Thee all suffering; love, that I may despise for Thee all love.” “ Write,” he said, “my most loving Savior, write on my heart Thy wounds, in order that I may always behold therein Thy sufferings and Thy love. Yes, because having before my eyes the great sufferings that Thou, my God, didst endure for me, I may bear in silence all the sufferings that it may fall to my lot to endure; and at the sight of the love which Thou didst exhibit for me on the cross, I may never love or be able to love any other than Thee.”
Who, then, can ever complain that he suffers wrongfully, when he considers Jesus, who was bruised for our sins? [Isa 53:5.] Who can refuse to obey, on account of some inconvenience, when Jesus became obedient unto death? [Phil 2:8.] Who can refuse ignominies, when they behold Jesus treated as a fool, as a mock king, as a disorderly person, struck, spit upon his face, and suspended upon an infamous gibbet?
Who could love any other object besides Jesus when they see him dying in the midst of so many sufferings and insults, in order to captivate our love? A certain devout solitary prayed to God to teach him what he could do in order to love him perfectly. Our Lord revealed to him that there was no more efficient way to arrive at the perfect love of him than to meditate constantly on his Passion.
St. Teresa lamented and complained of certain books which had taught her to leave off meditating on the Passion of Christ, because this might be an impediment to the contemplation of his divinity; and the saint exclaimed, “O Lord of my soul, O my Jesus crucified, my treasure! I never remember this opinion without thinking that I have been guilty of great treachery. And is it possible that Thou, my Lord, couldst be an obstacle to me in the way of a greater good? Whence, then, do all good things come to me, but from thee?” And she then added, “I have seen that, in order to please God, and to induce him to grant us great graces, he wills that they should all pass through the hands of his most sacred humanity, in which his divine majesty declared that he took pleasure.”
For this reason, Father Balthasar Alvarez said that ignorance of the treasures that we possess in Jesus was the ruin of Christians; and therefore his most favorite and usual meditation was on the Passion of Jesus Christ. He meditated especially on three of the sufferings of Jesus – his poverty, contempt, and pain; and he exhorted his penitents to meditate frequently on the Passion of our Redeemer, telling them that they should not consider that they had done anything at all, until they had arrived at retaining Jesus crucified continually present in their hearts.
“He who desires,” says St. Bonaventure, “to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus.” And he adds that “there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation on the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”
St. Augustine also said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread on water. Yes, because it was for this end that our Savior suffered so much, in order that we should think of his sufferings; because if we think on them it is impossible not to be inflamed with divine love: The charity of Christ presseth us, says St. Paul [2 Cor. 5: 14.] Jesus is loved by few because few consider the pains he suffered for us; but he that frequently considers them cannot live without loving Jesus. “The charity of Christ presseth us.” He will feel so constrained by his love that he will not find it possible to refrain from loving a God so full of love, who has suffered so much to make us love him.
Therefore the Apostle said that he desired to know nothing but Jesus, and Jesus crucified; that is, the love that he has shown us on the cross: I judged not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified [1 Cor 2:2]. And, in truth, from what books can we better learn the science of the saints – that is the science of loving God – than from Jesus crucified?
St. Thomas Aquinas was one day paying a visit to St. Bonaventure, and asked him from what book he had drawn all the beautiful lessons he had written. St. Bonaventure showed him the image of the Crucified, which was completely blackened by all the kisses that he had given it, and said, “This is my book whence I receive everything that I write; and it has taught me whatever little I know.”
In short, all the saints have learned the art of loving God from the study of the crucifix. Brother John of Alvernia, every time that he beheld Jesus wounded, could not restrain his tears. Brother James of Tuderto, when he heard the Passion of our Redeemer read, not only wept bitterly, but broke into loud sobs, overcome with the love with which he was inflamed toward his beloved Lord.
It was this sweet study of the crucifix which made St. Francis become a great seraph. He wept so continually in meditating on the sufferings of Jesus Christ, that he almost entirely lost his sight. On one occasion, being found crying out and weeping, he was asked what was the matter with him. “What ails me?” answered the saint. “I weep over the sorrows and insults inflicted on my Lord; and my sorrow is increased when I think of those ungrateful men who do not love him, but live without any thought of him.” Every time that he heard the bleating of a lamb, he felt himself touched with compassion at the thought of the death of Jesus, the Immaculate Lamb, drained of every drop of blood upon the cross for the sins of the world. And therefore this loving saint could find no subject on which he exhorted his brethren with greater eagerness than the constant remembrance of the Passion of Jesus.
This, then is the book – Jesus crucified – which, if we constantly read it, will teach us, on the one hand, to have a lively fear of sin, and, on the other hand, will inflame us with love for a God so full of love for us; while we read in these wounds the great malice of sin, which reduced a God to suffer so bitter a death in order to satisfy the divine justice, and the love which our Savior has shown us in choosing to suffer so much in order to prove to us how much he loved us.
Let us beseech the divine Mother Mary to obtain for us from her Son the grace that we also may enter into these furnaces of love, in which so many loving hearts are consumed, in order that, our earthly affections being there burned away, we also may burn with those blessed flames, which render souls holy on earth and blessed in heaven. Amen.
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| February 6th - St. Titus and St. Dorothy |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 01-05-2021, 03:18 PM - Forum: February
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Saint Titus
Bishop
(† Towards the end of the first century)
Saint Titus was a Greek-speaking convert from paganism and a disciple of Saint Paul, one of the chosen companions of the Apostle on his journey to the Council of Jerusalem. He became his fellow-laborer in many apostolic missions. From the Second Epistle which Saint Paul sent by the hand of Titus to the Corinthians, we gain an insight into the disciple's character as a peacemaker and an administrator, and understand the strong affection which his master bore him.
Titus had been commissioned to carry out a twofold office needing much firmness, discretion, and charity. He was to be the bearer of a severe rebuke to the Corinthians, who were harboring a scandal and were wavering in their faith; and at the same time he was directed to put their charity to the test by calling upon them for abundant alms for the church at Jerusalem. Saint Paul at Troas was anxiously awaiting the result. He writes, I had no peace of mind at Troas, because I did not find there Titus, my brother. (II Cor. 2:13) And he set sail for Macedonia. Here at last Titus brought the good news; his success had been complete. He reported the sorrow, the zeal, the generosity of the Corinthians, and the Apostle was filled with joy, and sent his faithful messenger back to them with the letter of comfort from which we have quoted.
Titus was finally left as a bishop on the Island of Crete, where Saint Paul addressed to him the epistle which bears his name. We see from Saint Paul's Epistle to Titus that this cherished disciple had organized the Christian community, and was engaged in correcting abuses and establishing a clergy. We do not know the history of the final years of Saint Titus from Scripture, only that he was in Dalmatia a short time before the martyrdom of Saint Paul. (Epistle to Timothy 4:10) Writers on Church history state that he died on Crete. His relics are conserved at Venice in the cathedral church of Saint Mark.
The mission of Titus to Corinth shows us how well the disciple had learned the spirit of his master. He knew how to be firm and to inspire respect. The Corinthians, we are told, received him with fear and trembling. He was patient and painstaking. Saint Paul gave thanks to God, who had put such solicitude for them in the heart of Titus. And these gifts were enhanced by a quickness to detect and elicit all the good in others, and by a joyousness which overflowed upon the spirit of Saint Paul himself, who abundantly rejoiced in the joy of Titus. (II Cor. 2:13)
Saint Dorothy
Virgin and Martyr
(† 304)
Saint Dorothy was a young virgin celebrated already in Caesarea of Cappadocia, where she lived, for her angelic virtue. Her parents are believed to have been martyred before her in the Diocletian persecution; thus, when the Governor Sapricius came to Caesarea and called her to appear before him, he sent this child of martyrs to the eternal home where they were waiting for her.
She explained that the God she adored was majestic — above all emperors, who were mortal, and their gods, none of whom created either heaven or earth. She was stretched upon the rack, and offered honors if she would consent to sacrifice, or death if she refused. And they waited. She asked why they delayed to torture her; they were expecting she might cede out of fright. She said to them, Do what you have to do, that I may see the One for whose love I fear neither death nor torments, Jesus Christ. She was asked, Where is this Christ? and she replied: As Almighty He is everywhere, but for weak human reason we say that the Son of God has ascended into heaven, to be seated at the right hand of the Almighty Father. It is He who invites us to the garden of His delights, where at all times the trees are covered with fruits, the lilies are perpetually white, the roses ever in their freshness. If you believe me, you too will search for the true liberty, and will labor to earn entry into the garden of God's delights. She was then placed in the custody of two women who had fallen away from the faith, in the hope that they might pervert her; but the fire of her own heart rekindled the flame in theirs, and led them back to Christ.
When she was set once more on the rack, Sapricius himself was amazed at the heavenly expression on her face, and asked her the cause of her joy. Because, she said, I have brought back two souls to Christ, and because I shall soon be in heaven rejoicing with the Angels. Her joy grew as she was buffeted in the face and her sides were burned with plates of red-hot iron. Blessed art Thou, she cried, when she was sentenced to be beheaded, Blessed art Thou, O Lover of souls, who call me to paradise, and invite me to Thy nuptial chamber!
Saint Dorothy suffered in mid-winter, and on the road to her execution a lawyer called Theophilus, who had grown accustomed to calumniating and persecuting the Christians, asked her, in mockery, to send him apples or roses from the garden of her Spouse. The Saint promised to grant his request. Just before she died, a little child stood by her side bearing three apples and three roses. She told him to take them to Theophilus, and to tell him it was the present he sought from the garden of her Spouse. Saint Dorothy had gone to heaven, and Theophilus was still making merry over his challenge to her, when the child entered his room. He recognized that the fruit and flowers were of no earthly growth, and that the child was an Angel in disguise. He was converted to the faith, and then shared in the martyrdom of Saint Dorothy.
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| February 5th - St. Agatha and The Holy Martyrs of Japan |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 01-05-2021, 03:14 PM - Forum: February
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Saint Agatha
Virgin and Martyr
(† 251)
Saint Agatha was born in Sicily of rich and noble parents, a child of benediction from the first, for she was promised to her parents before her birth, and consecrated from her earliest infancy to God. In the midst of dangers and temptations she served Christ in purity of body and soul, and she died for love of chastity. Quintanus, who governed Sicily under the Emperor Decius, had heard the rumor of her beauty and wealth, and he made the laws against the Christians a pretext for summoning her from Palermo to Catania, where he was at the time. O Jesus Christ! she cried, as she set out on this dreaded journey, all that I am is Thine; preserve me against the tyrant.
And Our Lord did indeed preserve one who had given herself so utterly to Him. He kept her pure and undefiled while she was imprisoned for a whole month under charge of an evil woman. He gave her strength to reply to the offer of her life and safety, if she would but consent to sacrifice to the gods, Christ alone is my salvation! When Quintanus turned from passion to cruelty, and cut off her breasts, Our Lord sent the Prince of the Apostles to heal her. She told the elderly gentleman who appeared to her that she was Christian and desired no treatment, for her Lord could cure her by a single word. He smiled, identified himself as Saint Peter, and said: It is in His name that you will be healed. And when he disappeared, she saw that her wounds were healed and her flesh made whole. But when she was rolled naked upon potsherds, she asked that her torments might be ended. Her Lord heard her prayer and took her to Himself.
Saint Agatha gave herself without reserve to Jesus Christ; she followed Him in virginal purity, and then depended upon Him for protection. And to this day Christ has shown His tender regard for the very body of Saint Agatha. Again and again, during the eruptions of Mount Etna, the people of Catania have exposed her veil for public veneration, and found safety by this means. In modern times, on opening the tomb in which her body lies waiting for the resurrection, they beheld the skin still entire, and experienced the sweet fragrance which issued from this temple of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Martyrs of Japan
(† 1597)
When Saint Francis Xavier came to Japan, this empire was totally plunged in paganism; forty years later, there were more than two hundred thousand Christians, most of them animated with all the fervor of the primitive Church. The jealous demon soon raised up a persecution; a confraternity of martyrdom was at once formed, the object of which was to die for Christ. The pursuits were terrible but only served to bring into light the marvels of the holy Faith. The first martyrs were twenty-six in number: six Franciscans, three Jesuits and seventeen lay Christians, among whom were three young altar boys who had joined the confraternity.
A pious Jesuit, crucified, made a touching sermon from the heights of his glorious pulpit, to the pagans surrounding him: At the point where you see me now, he said, I do not think any of you could believe me capable of betraying the truth. Now I declare to you, there is no other means of salvation but the Christian religion! I forgive the authors of my death, I beg them to receive Baptism.
Louis, a child of eleven, when he reached the site of execution asked which cross was his; he ran to it with a joy which touched all the spectators. His face shone with a heavenly radiance as he was dying. Anthony, thirteen years old, was begged by his parents not to die so young, to wait until he was older to confess his faith. He replied: Do not expose our holy faith to contempt and the mockery of the pagans. When he was offered riches by the magistrate, he said, I scorn your promises and life itself. The cross is what I desire for love of Jesus, who chose to die on a cross to save us. Then he bade farewell to his parents and promised to pray for them in heaven. A thirteen-year-old named Anthony, from his cross sang the Psalm Laudate, pueri, Dominum, Children, praise the Lord, — and was pierced through the heart when he reached the Gloria Patri.
All of Japan became as it were a sea of the blood of some two million martyrs, according to estimates made. Finally in 1848, France overcame the terrible prejudices against Catholicism which its enemies had sown in Japan, in order to obtain commercial privileges, and was admitted and allowed to practice its religion freely.
Pius IX canonized these heroes of the Faith on June 8, 1862, amid a great concourse of bishops from all parts of the world.
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| Fr. Peter Scott: On Protestant Baptisms |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2021, 12:03 PM - Forum: Q&A: Catholic Answers to a Catholic Crisis
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The Angelus - January 2010
Questions and Answers
by Fr. Peter R. Scott
How can we deny that non-Catholic Christian religions are means of salvation, given that they have (frequently) valid baptism?
The denomination of false religions as “means of salvation” is a novelty unheard of before Vatican II. The text that promotes this idea is the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, which states that “the separated churches and communities as such . . . have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation…” (§3). It is likewise stated in the Vatican II document on the Church, Lumen Gentium, that “many elements of sanctification and truth are found outside its visible confines”–that is, outside of the Catholic Church (§8).
There is, in both of these statements, a deliberate ambiguity, depending on how we understand that “means of salvation” or “elements of sanctification and truth” could exist in a religious group. It is certainly true that, in a purely material sense, such means of salvation that require no specific disposition on the part of the subject can exist in the various Protestant denominations.
The valid administration of the sacrament of baptism to children is such a case. If administered with the correct matter and form and the intention of doing what the Church does, it is valid and confers grace, since the child who has not yet attained the age of reason cannot place an obstacle in the path of grace. However, it is in only a material sense that this sacrament is administered by the Protestant group. It does not belong to it, nor does it follow at all that the false religious community itself is a means of salvation. In effect, every valid and fruitful baptism is a sacrament of the Catholic Church and makes the baptized child a member of the Catholic Church, as Pope Benedict XIV taught quite explicitly in 1749:
Quote: “He (i.e., a child) who receives baptism validly from a heretic, in virtue of this very fact is made a member of the Catholic Church” (DS 2567).
The pope goes on to state that the child receives the infused virtue of Faith (that is, the Catholic Faith), although the minister was a heretic. Consequently, truly and formally speaking the baptism is administered by the Catholic Church although the child is not aware of it and the minister denies it. It is only after having attained the age of reason, and after having formally adhered to the heretical or schismatic group, that the baptized child leaves the Church. Although this is canonically presumed from the age of 14 years whenever a person continues to participate in the religious ceremonies of the sect, it is entirely possible that a particular individual could be in invincible ignorance even well after that age, and hence not formally heretical or schismatic.
The question then arises as to those elements of salvation that require the correct disposition of the subject, such as the baptism of adults, or any other of the sacraments that might be valid in these sects, or concerning which the teachings of these sects might contain certain elements of the truth. Again, in a purely material sense, it can be said that these sacraments or teachings can be given in a heretical or schismatic church. However, they can only be efficacious when there is invincible ignorance on the part of the person who receives these sacraments in this false religious environment. In such a case, he does not voluntarily refuse to belong to the true Church, but has an implicit desire of belonging to it. It is consequently formally and properly to the Catholic Church that these sacraments belong and through the Catholic Church that they are salutary, even if perchance they are sometimes received materially speaking outside of her. An adult validly and fruitfully baptized with such invincible ignorance is in reality a member of the Catholic Church, despite appearances to the contrary.
Not only does the Council of Florence teach that heretics and schismatics cannot be saved
Quote:“unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock,” but also that “the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation” (Decree for the Jacobites, Dz. 714).
The consequence is that anyone who is truly and with pertinacity a member of a false religion, explicitly refusing to be a member of the Catholic Church, cannot possibly receive any means of salvation nor any elements of sanctification from his Protestant or schismatic sect. He might appear to do so, and to go through the motions of receiving means of salvation and elements of sanctification, but this is only in a purely material, exterior sense, and none of them will be of any profit to his soul, as St. Paul says of the Holy Eucharist: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself” (I Cor. 11:28).
In such cases the sacraments are valid, but not efficacious for salvation, on account of an impediment placed by the subject who deliberately refuses to submit to the true Church, her teaching, and her authority. This teaching is very clear in the Fathers of the Church, such as St. Augustine, who has this to say:
Quote:The comparison of the Church with Paradise shows us that men may indeed receive baptism outside her pale, but that no one outside can either receive or retain the salvation of eternal happiness. For, as the words of the Scripture testify, the streams from the fountain of Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its bounds. Record is indeed made of their names; and through what countries they flow, and that they are situated beyond the limits of Paradise, is known to all; and yet in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, to which countries those rivers extended, there is not found that blessedness of life which is recorded in Paradise. Accordingly, although the waters of Paradise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its happiness is in Paradise alone. So, therefore, the baptism of the Church may exist outside, but the gift of the life of happiness is found alone within the Church, which has been founded on a rock, which has received the keys of binding and loosing….This indeed is true, that “baptism is not unto salvation except within the Catholic Church.” For in itself it can indeed exist outside the Catholic Church as well; but there it is not unto salvation, because there it does not work salvation; just as that sweet savour of Christ is not unto salvation in them that perish, though from a fault not in itself but in them. (On Baptism against the Donatists)
Pope St. Leo the Great also taught that baptism received outside of the Church is fruitless.
Quote:For they who have received baptism from heretics are to be confirmed by the imposition of hands with only the invocation of the Holy Ghost, because they have received the bare form of baptism without the power of sanctification. (Letter CLIX)
The consequence of the fact that it is only perchance, by invincible ignorance and lack of pertinacity, that sacraments can be valid in such communities is that no sacrament or means of salvation can be said, properly speaking, to belong to the false religious community. This what is St. Augustine had to say against the heretics of his time, called Donatists:
Quote:It [baptism] does not belong to you. That which is yours are your bad sentiments and sacrilegious practices, and that you have the impiety to separate yourselves from us. (Quoted in From Ecumenism to Silent Apostasy, §28)
It is not only ambiguous, but misleading and false to affirm that these communities have elements of sanctification and means of salvation. Moreover, such a statement leads inexorably to the denial of the doctrine “Outside the Church, no salvation,” nor can this statement be denied, sent by the four bishops of the Society to all the cardinals in 2004:
Quote:“In the degree in which this assertion of the Council contradicts the affirmation that the Catholic Church is the unique possessor of the means of salvation, it approaches heresy” (ibid.).
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| Solange Hertz: The Wonderous Tale of the Wizard Clip |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2021, 11:48 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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The Angelus - November 1987
The Wonderous Tale of the Wizard Clip
by Solange Hertz
By the banks of Opequon Creek, near the little colonial village of Middleway, West Virginia, lies a tract of land known for generations as Priest Field. Despite its unassuming aspect, it boasts an extraordinary history, which unfolded with the beginnings of the Catholic Church in the U.S. All the ecclesiastical records were destroyed by the clergy, but many well-documented accounts by contemporaries survive. Among these witnesses was the famous Russian convert, Prince Dimitri Augustine Gallitzin, who was the first priest to receive all his orders in the new man-made nation, and who as Fr. Demetrius A. "Smith" became the Apostle of the Alleghenies.
There is a solemn promise attached to the field: BEFORE THE END OF TIME THIS WILL BE A GREAT PLACE OF PRAYER AND FASTING AND PRAISE. But this is getting ahead of the story, which began in the late 1770's, when a God-fearing, propertied German Lutheran named Johann Adam Liebenstein settled his numerous household near the creek on 70 acres inherited from his father, within the triangle formed by Charles Town, Martinsburg and Winchester— in those days all part of Virginia. He hoped to escape the mysterious disasters afflicting him at his former homestead in York County, Pennsylvania, where horses and cattle kept dying, crops withered and barns burned down for no reason.
Alas, the move afforded no relief. Not only did the livestock continue to die, but the legs and heads of the poultry began dropping off unaccountably, and the house itself was infested. Furniture and crockery flew about, balls of fire rolled from the fireplaces across the floors, and deafening sounds of galloping horses could be heard day or night. All this was accompanied by the sound of incessant clipping which seemed to belong to phantom scissors bent on attacking any available piece of cloth or leather.
Linens, clothing, even boots and harness fell prey to the invisible frenzied shears, which especially liked to snip things into distinctive crescent shapes. Not even the clothing of guests was spared. A Presbyterian lady from Martinsburg, calling on the Liebensteins (now called Livingston) to enquire about the happenings, took the precaution of doffing her new silk cap and wrapping it up in her pocket to avoid decimation. When she took her leave, however, pulling out her cap, she found it cut to ribbons.
Needless to say, tales of the Wizard Clip spread like wildfire. Middleway was called Clip-town, and to this day the natives are known as "Clippers". The distraught Mr. Livingston turned to his Bible, where he read that "Christ had given to His ministers power over evil spirits." He journeyed to Winchester to ask his minister for help, but the latter acknowledged no such power. Concluding that his parson could be no true minister, he applied to others, who "came, prayed and read, but they prayed and read in vain." Three were routed by a giant whirling stone, and the Episcopalian divine's prayer book was whisked away to be discovered later in the bottom of a chamber pot.
"A Roman Catholic peddler" eventually chanced to spend the night at the Livingston's, and being "much disturbed by the noise which prevailed almost the whole night in the house, tried to persuade Livingston to send for a Catholic priest, but Livingston answered quickly that he had tried so many of those fellows, he was not going to try any more of them!" Not until, that is, he had a dream wherein, climbing a high mountain with great difficulty, he saw at the top in a beautiful church "a minister dressed in robes" and a voice told him, "That is the man who can relieve you."
An Italian acquaintance, Giuseppe Minghini, erstwhile valet to Major General Charles Lee, told him that could only be a Catholic priest, and directed him to the estate of a wealthy Catholic, Richard McSherry. Told that Holy Mass would be celebrated in a private home in Shepherdstown the following Sunday, there he met the Irish missionary Fr. Dennis Cahill from Hagarstown, Maryland. On seeing him vested at the altar, Livingston exclaimed, "That is the very man I saw in my dream!"
He related his misfortune to Fr. Cahill, who scoffed loudly, but was finally pressured by Minghini and McSherry into going to say some prayers and sprinkle holy water. As he left, money which had disappeared from a locked chest was suddenly placed by invisible hands at his feet, and the noxious Clip was quiet for several days. Only much later, after Holy Mass had been offered on the premises, did the manifestations cease entirely.
Fr. Gallitzin investigated all this for his superiors in 1797. In a letter to a McSherry daughter dated April 11, 1839, he writes, "My view in coming to Virginia, and remaining there three months, was to investigate those extraordinary facts at Livingston's, of which I had heard so much at Conewago, and which I could not prevail upon myself to believe; but I was soon converted to a full belief of them. No lawyer in a court of justice did ever examine witnesses more strictly than I did all those I could procure." He also says elsewhere that Adam Livingston "soon after became a most edifying member of the Catholic Church."
Fr. Gallitzin wrote a complete history, but apparently it perished with the official church records. Why? The reason seems clear. Until the Revolution, no Catholic priest was permitted in Virginia, where Bishop Carroll estimated there were hardly 200 Catholics. Many had never seen a Catholic church, and until then had no possibility of Mass and the Sacraments. They were still engulfed in Protestants, among whom their new freedom of religion remained precarious. For fear of rousing anti-Catholic sentiment, the Americanist John Carroll would have been careful not to publicize the Wizard Clip in any case, but especially in view of the alarming sequel:
For some 17 years after the manifestations, a mysterious Voice instructed the Livingston household in the truths of the Faith. It assumed the spiritual direction of the entire family, guiding their every action, scolding, encouraging, warning and prophesying. In the evenings it would summon them with, "Come! Take your seats!" and proceed to catechize, always prefacing its utterances with, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and making them bless themselves. The Voice preached deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin, often leading them in the Rosary. For the benefit of Livingston's Presbyterian wife (a second marriage), who found Marian devotion unacceptable, they were required to render the second part of the Hail Mary as "Holy, Holy, Holy Mary, Mother of God…"
Before their reception into the Church, the family was put through a 40-day fast with three hours of daily prayer and told to keep March 4 annually as a day in thanksgiving. Often in the middle of the night the Voice would demand prayers for the souls in Purgatory. Mr. Livingston was once required to pray for three hours for the soul of "Fr. Pellins" (Fr. James Pellentz, S.J., Bishop Carroll's recently deceased Vicar-General). When one of the girls was thinking to herself that the Holy Souls could well have helped themselves, shrieks for help were heard, and the imprint of a human hand was scorched into a shirt before their eyes. The Voice constantly inveighed against worldly fashions for either sex, but on one occasion his counsel was punctuated by shattering the mirror before which the McSherry girls were admiring themselves.
But the most embarrassing characteristic of the Voice was its unecumenical intransigence towards Protestantism. It stated flatly that all ministers of false religions were of the devil1, possessing no other power than any lay person, and that Catholics under no circumstances should ever attend their services. Poor Eve McSherry, who became very saintly, was severely reprimanded for one infraction. When the hospitable Mrs. McSherry lodged two traveling Protestant ministers for the night in the room where the visiting priest usually slept, and where the vestments were kept, the family was kept awake all night by the sound of galloping horses, although the ministers heard nothing. The Voice warned her through Mr. Livingston that she should never have permitted them to use that room, and not to let it happen again!2
Whose was this unseen voice? Allegedly seen by some of the younger children, it told Mr. Livingston that it had once been in the flesh as he was. Because it sang beautifully in Latin, the family thought it was that of a priest. One day a stranger, barefoot, bearded and poorly clad, appeared suddenly in the living room. Presuming him to be a beggar, they offered him shoes and clothing, which he accepted, although remarking that these were not needed where he came from. Asked where this was, the stranger replied, "From my Father." And where was he going? "To my Father. And I have come to teach you the way of my Father." He stayed three days and nights, instructing them, and then vanished into thin air. In his fine work, The Mystery of the Wizard Clip, published in Baltimore in 1879, Fr. Joseph Finotti, S.J. says that this "Angel" informed his hosts during his visit that "Luther and Calvin were in hell, and every soul that was lost through their fault added to their torments."
Withal, the Voice was a source of abundant blessings. Admitting that Protestants who died in the proper dispositions could be saved, the Voice held small hope for Catholics who relied on a last minute repentance. There were many conversions, Mr. Minghini's Protestant wife among them, besides miraculous cures. Catholics in Virginia and Maryland were drawn to lead better lives, and fervent lay apostles were formed at a crucial time when priests and churches were very scarce.
Once when Mrs. McSherry saw with horror her infant son's cradle rocking violently of itself, she received word from the Voice that "it was the devil who was trying to destroy the child, knowing that he would one day be his enemy." That child, whose cradle was preserved at Georgetown University, turned out to be Very Rev. William McSherry, a Jesuit Provincial. His mother is said to have died in the odor of sanctity. Staying home one Sunday to nurse a sick child, she saw "a beautiful person standing before her in a light cloud, with one hand up and the other down, and a nail running through each hand, who said to her, 'Whatsoever you do for one of my little ones, you do it for me.'" She told no one, but the Voice related the vision to Mr. Livingston, and when she died the Voice declared that "her soul did not even pass through Purgatory."
Not all fared so well. Mrs. McSherry's brother, studying for the priesthood, spurned a warning and died obstinate. Mrs. Livingston never truly converted. Frequently falsifying the Voice, she referred to herself as the Judas of the family, and died in regrettable circumstances. Fr. Gallitzin believed that some of the children also "care very little for the Church," but this did not apply to Henry, who lived a holy life after being punished for over a year for refusing to do the reaping without being paid for it!
Before returning to Pennsylvania in 1802, Adam Livingston deeded the 34 acres comprising Priest Field to the Catholic Church. One well-substantiated explanation is that during exorcism, the Wizard Clip identified itself as a previous incumbent who had acquired the parcel by murdering its owner, and declared that restitution must be made. Presumably no rightful heirs could be found, whereupon Livingston made the customary disposition of such stolen property by giving it to the Church, obtaining his wife's consent with great difficulty. It was then the Voice foretold that the Field would become a great place of prayer.
The deed specified that "said land is to be rented and the profits are to be applied towards building and repairing a church or chapel thereon." For many reasons this was not feasible, but the land was used as a Catholic cemetery for many years. Finally, in 1922, the Bishop of Richmond obtained a ratification of the will, and in 1923 a little wooden chapel was built, which became the scene of frequent pilgrimages, with Mass said there on All-Souls' Day, and later on the feast of the Assumption.
In the chaos following the Council, the chapel was gutted of its old wooden altar, which some pious ladies saying the Rosary on the property were horrified to see had been used to construct an outdoor latrine to accommodate campers, the letters IHS plainly visible on the back of the stalls. The tabernacle was discovered at a distance by the creek, its top used for cutting bait.
In 1974 Priest Field became part of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and four years later was turned into an extensive Pastoral Center with a resident priest, a huge parking lot and a welter of modern buildings housing a new well-upholstered chapel devoid of images or kneelers. (The old chapel now serves as a conference hall.) A brochure informs visitors: "A special mission of Priest Field will be to foster the principle of religious freedom in America."
Perhaps the Voice will let us know what he thinks of this.
Biographical Note
The story of the Wizard Clip figures in John Gilmary Shea's monumental History of the Catholic Church within the United States and also in P. J. Mahon's Trials and Triumphs of the Catholic Church in America. It is mentioned by many non-Catholic sources as well, such as the West Virginia Historical Magazine for 1904 and the West Virginia Guidebook put together by the WPA in 1941, besides various newspapers et alia.
By far the most reliable authority is The Mystery of the Wizard Clip, by Fr. Joseph Finotti, who in fact supplied Shea with his information. The work is compiled exclusively from primary sources, letters, accounts of eye witnesses and the children of the eye witnesses, interviews with Mrs. McSherry and Mr. Minghini, and of course Fr. Gallitzin's own versions as they appear in his letters and writings.
In 1949 Raphael Brown's The Mystery of the Wizard Clip was published by the Catholic Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia. One of the most recent accounts is that of Anna Marshall, who published Adam Livingston—The Wizard Clip—The Voice in 1978. These are well-researched but tend to water down details which would be unacceptable to Protestants. The fate of Luther and Calvin as revealed by the Angel is conspicuously omitted.
1. Whether consciously or unconsciously, since such ministers, though they may be of good will, preach error and dissimulate the truths that Our Lord Jesus Christ taught and gave to His Church. (Ed. note)
2. Her charity is to be commended, but perhaps those ministers were bad men, or because she considered them on the same level as a Catholic minister, that the Voice reprimanded her. (Ed. note)
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| Dominicans of Avrillé: Protestantism - Born of Insanity, Leading to Insanity |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2021, 11:41 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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Protestantism: Born of Insanity, Leading to Insanity - Part I
Adapted from Jacques Balmès Le Protestantisme comparé au Catholicisme
Delirium and fanaticism are a natural component of Protestantism. One could write volumes to prove it, but a quick look at the facts will suffice here.
Luther discussed religion with the Devil
Let’s start with Luther. What could be more insane than to claim to be taught by the Devil, to glory in it, and to establish a new doctrine based on this rather doubtful (to say the least!) authority? This is, however, exactly what was done by the founder of Protestantism, Luther himself, who left written accounts of his interview with Satan.
Whether the apparition was real or just a nightmarish hallucination during a long night troubled by fever, it’s impossible to push fanaticism any further than to brag about being instructed by such a teacher.
Luther tells us himself that he had several colloquies with the Devil. The most noteworthy is the vision – which he recounts very seriously – where Satan assailed Luther with arguments against the Mass celebrated privately, without the faithful. Luther depicts the scene in vivid colors. He awakes in the middle of the night, and Satan appears to him: he sweats, trembles; his heart is beating terribly. Nevertheless, a discussion is engaged. The Devil shows himself to be such a good dialectician that Luther is vanquished, and left with no response. The Devil’s logic was accompanied by a voice so terrifying that the blood froze in poor Luther’s veins. He said:
Quote:“I then understood how it is that people often die at the dawning of day; it’s because the Devil can kill or suffocate them, and, without going so far as that, when he argues with them, he puts them in such difficulty that he can thus cause their death: this is what I have often experienced myself.”
A very curious passage indeed!
Zwingli helped by a phantom
Another example of this folly: the phantom that appeared to Zwingli, the founder of Protestantism in Switzerland. This heresiarch wanted to deny the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist. He claimed that the consecrated bread and wine are nothing more than the sign of the Body and Blood of Christ. However, he was bothered by the texts of Sacred Scripture that clearly affirm the contrary. All of a sudden, just as he was imagining a discussion with the secretary of the town, a black or white phantom (as he says himself), appeared to him and provided him with the desired explanation.
This edifying story comes from Zwingli himself!
Melanchthon’s superstitions
Melanchthon showed himself to be strangely credulous when it came to dreams, extraordinary phenomena and astrological predictions. His letters are full of examples. During the Diet of Augsburg, Melanchthon interpreted various happenings in Rome (the flooding of the Tiber and the birth of a monstrous mule having the foot of a crane), and in the territory of Augsburg (the birth of a calf with two heads) as favorable omens for the new Gospel. These events were for him the unquestionable announcement of the imminent ruin of Rome and the triumph of Protestantism. He affirms this very seriously to Luther in a letter.
He would read his daughter’s horoscope for her, and trembled in seeing that Mars “manifested a dreadful aspect”. He was also terrified by the flames of a comet appearing in the northern sky. The astrologists predicted that the stars would be more favorable to theological debates in autumn, and that sufficed to console him concerning the delays in the conferences of Augsburg. These “reasons” were also good enough to convince his friends, the leaders of the Protestant faction.
Someone having predicted that Melanchthon would be shipwrecked in the Baltic Sea, he refused to embark. A certain Franciscan had prophesied that the power of the Pope was going to disappear, and that in the year 1600 the Turks would become the masters of Italy and Germany: Melanchthon glorified in having the original version of the prophecy. Moreover, the earthquakes which occur shortly after reinforce him in this belief.
To be continued…
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| Fr. de Chivré: God's Secret Language |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2021, 11:36 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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The Angelus -November 2007
God's Secret Language
Twenty-Seven Minutes with Fr. de Chivré
God's Hidden Way of Expressing Himself
The mystical life is the only complete life. This is true as much on the part of God (Who is free to act in the soul) as on the part of the soul, which is entirely at God's disposition. But this is done through the medium of "secrets" which are personal to the soul and which God uses to draw near to the soul's essential existence. What exactly are these "secrets"?
We here call "secrets" those psychological realities that dwell in us without an initial reference to an external source. External things can sometimes awaken them, like the way a beautiful mountain scene awakens the virtue of adoration of God by the intermediary of Creation. But the exterior does not create them. They appear in us, in spite of us, even from our birth, without any possible explanation, without a natural origin. They command our attention, wanting to take the initiative of conversations between us and ourselves, and between us and God.
These conversations go beyond earthly questions; they present us with demands: the choice of God, of virtue, of value, of an existence without self-interest. Or else other, more intimate demands: that of a permanence of attention upon God, of relations made as constant as possible by exchanges that engage the Redemption in itself, or the redemption of souls, or the rectification of an interior direction towards a more consciously consented sanctification.
They are secrets because they have no relation with the banality of every-day life. They are secrets because they define us so personally that we are afraid of others' catching a glimpse, because it really is our true face, the face that only God has a right to see.
God speaks to these secrets and expresses Himself by them. He speaks in ways inseparable from His divine nature, and specific to each one of the souls to which He addresses Himself.
The first of all those ways: God is outside of time, and He addresses Himself to a particular moment in a spiritual existence localized in time. How does that work? Since it is outside of time, the divine word expresses itself without necessarily using the intermediary of temporal means. I mean without obligatory reference to the rational thought that dwells in us. His word springs forth so complete that it requires the total attention of reason and heart to foster its nourishing development and so allow it to blossom into conclusions that will lead us beyond the relative, the logical, and the rationally argued. With His word, there is no link between the natural thought which preceded it and which it suddenly replaces, breaking into our thought and commanding our attention. We find it again in us with the same expression we found ten years earlier, or centuries before in Holy Scripture, in a form adapted to our destiny, but analogous to the "official" revelations (which it never contradicts). "Ego sum: it is I who am speaking to you with the same words, inviting you to turn away from the human words that you are accustomed to hearing and that build up your earthly happiness, your immediate success, your personal fortune; I am situating you where I come from: outside of time; I am waiting for you as of right now, in your mind and in your soul."
The result is a kind of interior attention to the decisions that these words inspire, words spoken outside of time: words which do not change but which have the firm intention of changing our way of thinking; which solicit an audience within the intimacy of a reflection inaccessible to those around us, incommunicable to our friends. Words in tune with God: always, definitive, absolute, completely, seeking to set in motion our consent, so uncertain, so hesitant, so fearful. They situate us in a perfect attitude, encouraging us toward the insatiable repetition of a "yes" never quite like the one before, always more complete, constantly recommenced without the slightest weariness, and offering an echo to God's infinity by the absolute open-endedness of that blessed obsession to draw near to His mind and His heart.
"You think of 'fortune', and My word says to you: 'And then what?' With Me, it is not about fortune but about the use you will make of it in order to place it outside of time by how it is used. Do this with scrupulous honesty and unconditional charity giving birth to the secret fortune of an absolute fusion with My love."
"You think 'pleasure for tomorrow', and I tell you: self-possession, privation, crucifixion of pleasure in its excess, to situate you in a state of soul outside of time: Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God."
By His sudden illuminations from on high, without reference to some logically constructed argument, God penetrates through the realities of here below: earthbound realities, stunted, mediocre. He renders them translucent so that we might see beyond what they are, through to the eternity that they can help prepare by our way of using them and of raising them up at the expense of the earthly advantages that they hold out to us.
I always remember the example of the word "Eucharist," spoken from the pulpit, which fell upon a soul who was listening, penetrating through him with an implacable light, showing him all the repulsion of his past life and bringing him back to God in one fell swoop. God had made use of a natural word, charging it with an "outside of time" potential to strike down the naturalism of that soul.
This manner of expression is completed by God's second way of speaking to us, proper to His divine nature: density.
The hallmark of false mysticism is the caricature of density: pious verbiage, a mass of emotionally-charged imaginings, woven together by the intensity of a trembling imagination and by the individualism of a mind busy building the profusion of his ravings on a basis of total unreality. On the contrary, true mysticism participates in the divine density by that certain reservation which is its necessary effect in a soul, charged with speaking the inexpressible and the untranslatable. This spiritual density leads our attention back to a unity of interior attitude with respect to God:
A unity of insistence on a particular struggle to be accepted; a unity of the importance of recollection, to be desired even in the agitation of a busy life; a unity of the permanent responsibility to accept a given sacrifice, meritorious for the body, or for our dignity, or for the esteem we would hope to have, a veritable tidal wave rising up from the divine density to the benefit of a disposition pronounced at the expense of self-love and in favor of pure love; a tidal wave building up from very far away, from the depths of a thanksgiving, from the depths of a prayer, from the depths of a sudden realization forbidding us to doubt under pain of bad faith; a supplication both strong and tender to accept the language of the Uncreated by imposing silence on the pleas of the created.
God acts like the teacher toward his students who are looking out the window at the little birds or at the weather outside: with a word of authority, with a more insistent tone, he centers the attention of the children back on the primary reason of their presence in class: to learn. The divine density draws our giddy malleability back to the unchanging and attentive love: learning to know Existence and realizing a little more about our own existence, present and future. In this way, tirelessly nourishing our eager appetite with the density of grace, the interior word teaches the consequences of these divine conversations: a perfect continuity of attitude throughout the infinite variability of the events of a day. The unification of our manner of conducting ourselves even throughout the contrasts brought on by tears, then joys, weariness, triumph, the always unexpected...stretched over a single day. In a word, a mentality of eternity, outside time, inflicting on time the defeat that always arises from a lack of continuity in love. This mentality of continuity freely lived puts us in a position to conduct ourselves as Jesus did in the midst of the crowds: healing, improving, resurrecting–the mark of God, the restoration of life. The mystical life obtains for us this participation in the prestige of our Lord over human miseries: it heals events of their disrupting emotions, of their crushing, discouraging influence, of their pessimism, so damaging to love.
Jesus said: "Stand up and walk," and, by his courageous continuity, the mystic lifts up his stretcher of misery and continues his progress with secret patience.
Jesus said: "Silence!" to the agitated winds and to the angry waves, and the mystic imposes his spiritual authority on the interior struggle by the pacifying effect of continuity, holding fast and not changing direction. He imposes on existence the authority of a continual regard of faith–lived out, loved and chosen. He stares down doubt, with the authority of the "I believe in God."
Constantly nourished on this spiritual continuity, arising from the density of interior conversation with God, St. Francis and St. Dominic lived with scandalous optimism the adventures of voluntary poverty, of beloved detachment, to such a point that their earthly trials provoked their interior smile and their secret song of thanksgiving.
In fact, mysticism brings to life in society an intelligent optimism of attitude, which is a living sermon for those all around and an irresistible distribution of example and influence, infinitely superior to our falsely-intellectual talking heads when they start to try to explain God, without the speaker's really living of God. Mysticism imposes a balance and equilibrium in our daily living which confounds all of the bitter and unhealthy criticisms expressed against it by human pride, in the name of science and observation–as if He who acts outside of time within time were going to make Himself accessible to the microscope and to the methods of research of doctors submerged in the changing of time. The response of the true mystic is irrefutable: when everyone else jumps ship, he stays; when nearly everyone else holds their tongue, he affirms and holds his ground; when almost all of the others step away, like the disciples at the announcement of the Eucharist, he steps closer and holds firm. He is the contrary of a deserter. A Church filled again with mystics could only be a Church filled with saints.
But be careful! There can be no question of discrediting reason and denying its duty to participate in the mystical life by verification, reflection, judgment–not so as to diminish the interior word but so as to help maintain it worthy of God, to preserve it from the excessive wanderings which are always a risk for the imagination and passions; to oblige it to remain in harmony with the wisdom of the Faith by remaining courageously determined not to bend before the wisdom of the world.
"Always maintain reason" used to be the motto of the Kings of France, and St. Louis was an admirable example. Why? Because God will never contradict reason, but He may ask that it be raised up to functions which, though seemingly unreasonable for the normal conduct of its "job" by the results obtained, in a "super-reasonable" role, are the opposite of unreasonable. Jesus' forty-day fasting in the desert was seemingly unreasonable, but in reality it originated in a lifting up of reason by grace, preparing Him to affront the combats of His public life, beginning with the assaults of the Accursed. It terminated in the marvelous result of Satan's defeat by the strength of soul of Jesus' answers. Whereas the fasting of a hunger strike proves itself unreasonable by the disproportion of the decision, giving rise to no virtue and only provoking astonishment by its unreasonable character, not "super-reasonable" in the least.
Jesus assured us, "You will recognize a tree by its fruits"; the infused virtues, raising reason up to the level of a courage above the norm, prove their influence by the superlatively reasonable results of perfection developed, virtue acquired, sanctification obtained. That is to say these virtues, directly infused by the Holy Ghost into human judgment, prove their authenticity when they give a surplus of value to our reason beyond its natural capacities. I give the example of a religious mobilized as an Air Force officer: learning that one of his comrades, a father of eight children, had been chosen for a reconnaissance mission over enemy lines, in practically fatal conditions, he spontaneously took the initiative to leave in his place, considering that his state as a religious owed it to itself to give this testimony of heroic charity, which ended up costing him his life. Yet, this priest also had a right to his mother's affection, and his mother to the affection of her son; far from yielding to the unreasonableness of an impulse, he had decided in a lucid and super-reasonable manner to offer this witness of an absolute gift of self.
In a much more continual manner, St. Francis of Assisi was nearly constantly under the influence of the infused virtues which made him run the adventure of an apparently unreasonable material life, whereas in fact they gave him the mission to affirm the spiritual fecundity of poverty pushed to the point of a heroism inexplicable for reason. Taking this example, we can show the three degrees of perfection with which God can ask us to possess material wealth:
- The first degree: to possess it in order to manage it honestly, in all justice, in the light of the natural virtue of a reason rectified according to duty,
- The second degree is to manage it under the influence of an habitual supernatural virtue inspiring its management in view of detaching oneself from it morally by the benefit that the poor can draw from it, thanks to the many alms which already underline a human detachment from the goods of the earth.
- The third degree is "Go, sell all that you have and follow Me." This is the infused virtue inciting the rich child to give up the exploitation of his goods in order to affirm himself super-reasonable with regard to the command of Jesus, asking him to leave everything in order to save his own soul and the souls of others.
The harshness of worldly judgments toward certain decisions–which utterly confound its rationalistic manner of considering life, supposedly upright and excellent–comes from a kind of self-defense mechanism at the thought of grace's total intervention in existence, an existence whose use the worldly man intends to maintain for himself, according to his desire and according to his material or psychological avarice.
There is always some form of self-surpassing lying in ambush for us. There is a kind of self-surpassing in evil, upon which the Pharisees let fall their scornful anathemas. There is the hard-hearted, indifferent self-surpassing practiced by "oblivious Pharisees," with the kind of thoughtlessness that Jesus despised. There is the self-surpassing in sanctity which affirms the presence of God acting in us, engaging the conversation with the best of ourselves.
The first case is the self-surpassing of weakness, the second, that of pride, while the third is a self-surpassing by humility–a form of "psychosis" which no one need fear nor try to heal, so incompatible is it with original sin: nothing exalting for instinct nor for vanity, simply the strength to allow God to take our place and that of our judgment, because we have had the humility to listen to Him down to the very end. Only souls determined to take their commitment to the absolute limit have that authority of proving its absolute moral fruitfulness.
"To the absolute limit," whether in quantity, quality of application and consent, according to the passing of grace, whether in decisiveness under the impulse of the Holy Ghost, whether in perseverance under the influence of the Faith. The encounter with God is at this price; being outside of time, God does not offer Himself through parcels of time used to love Him, but with the totality of a love proven over the length of time.
Contrary to an unhealthy self-surpassing inspired by pride and the desire to show off our perfection, self-surpassing in humility presents characteristics typical of that fundamental virtue of the mystical life: the fear to be mistaken, the need to obey, the concern to have one's personal inspirations ratified, prudence and reserve in keeping to oneself about the graces heard and received. Infused virtue is accompanied by an entire escort of delicate timidities which reveal that God has the principal initiative in the lights received and understood. If the saints were so audacious in the defense of the Faith and in the gift of themselves for the salvation of souls, it is because they were so timid, delicate and strong in their relations with the interior word. Their fear of being unreasonable confirms the super-reasonable origin of graces that took command over their slightly panicking judgment; before yielding–contrary to the unbalanced–they feel that what is asked of them is beyond their strength, although they are ready to obey; they are fearful, though consenting, like Jesus in the Garden of His Agony.
On the contrary, the unbalanced have as a rule a kind of natural sympathy with the abnormal, the moment the opportunity arises for an inaccurate imitation of the super-reasonable. It is evident when you see their ease in putting this imbalance before duty of state, before obedience–something a saint would never do. The fruits of an imbalanced spirituality are directly opposed to the simple common sense natural to an everyday piety that is nonetheless strong and solid. When God directs a soul toward the conversation by which He means to penetrate into it, He never goes beyond a certain depth, marking the limit of that soul's reasonable balance. On the contrary, He reinforces its fidelity by the reinforcement of a pacified reason. The "leave everything" is proportioned to the degree of union or to the mission which God means to confide to that soul.
The fear of abandoning one's self-will is the first enemy upon which we have to declare war when God begins to express Himself by way of the conscience or by way of a directly supernatural light. We are so deeply rooted in ourselves that Jesus even said it to His beloved apostles: "You do not know of what spirit you are..." It is going to be the role of the priest, in the direction of souls, to distinguish of what spirit they are and of what spirit God means for them to be. Imprudence consists in wanting to decide all alone, in a misunderstanding in which we are always both judge and defendant. Spiritual direction is not an authoritarianism nor a taking command; it is a direction, an orientation, facing the soul toward the destination which God holds out to him, and which it is his own duty to reach, strengthened by obedience and by the wisdom of the grace of the priesthood. The first mission of this grace is to help the soul renounce the individualistic affirmation of his self-love or of his ever-so-slightly pharisaical virtue, enclosed within its little human recording-studio where all it can hear is its own monotonous conversation. The true mystic is more anxious to receive than to affirm, and what he receives in spiritual direction helps him allow God to affirm Himself in his place. "Who hears you hears Me"; knowing how to "hear" the sonority of a soul is the first duty and the heaviest responsibility of spiritual direction, in order that the soul might hear, in the priest, the echo of God Himself; providing an atmosphere of understanding which the soul needs in order to be able to reveal its secrets and the secrets of God for him; the most merciful and paternal of functions, for whomever knows how to appreciate the priestly vocation: "sacra dare"–to give the sacred of divine light, after having given the sacred of the sacraments.
This intelligent mysticism of personal existence has been all but discredited, not only by excessively materialistic doctors but by excessively human confessors, or by theologians excessively de-valorized by their personal points of view on a problem which must always remain the problem of God seeking to draw as close as possible to souls, in order to engage in conversation with them.
Mysticism recovers man before the Fall; it places him there where God planted the tree of life after He eliminated the garden of happiness: the Cross, where the soul finds himself in company of the life that cannot die: with the love of his God and with the God of his love.
Translated exclusively for Angelus Press from the private archives of the Association du R. P. de Chivré. Fr. Bernard-Marie de Chivré, O.P. (say: Sheave-ray´) was ordained in 1930. He was an ardent Thomist, student of Scripture, retreat master, and friend of Archbishop Lefebvre. He died in 1984.
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| Mgr. Joseph Fenton: Our Lord's Presence in the Catholic Church |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2021, 11:32 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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OUR LORD’S PRESENCE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
by Mons. Joseph Clifford Fenton
The following is taken from the American Ecclesiastical Review July 1946.
The central, the most important fact about the Catholic Church, that which primarily differentiates it from every other religious organization on the lace of the earth, is the living presence of Jesus Christ Our Lord within it. This actual indwelling of Our Blessed Lord within the society which He founded is the great and essential glory of the Catholic Church. It is the basic reason why the Catholic Church can be and should be accurately designated as the true Church of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom and the City and the House of God. Because the fellowship and the company of Christ are to be found within this, the society of His disciples, our present Sovereign Pontiff, in his masterly encyclical Mystici Corporis, could correctly insist that “nothing more glorious, nothing nobler, nothing surely more honorable can be imagined than to belong to the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church.”1
Certainly no man can begin to realize what the Catholic Church really is until he considers it in the light of the living presence of Christ within it. Unless we become aware of the fact that Our Lord actually resides within the Church, any designation of this society as the Mystical Body of Christ or as the Spouse of Christ is bound, for all intents and purposes, to be practically meaningless to us. Furthermore, in order to love the Church as we should love it, we must also take cognizance of Our Lord’s abiding life and activity within it. Pope Pius XII reminds us of this in that section of the Mystici Corporis in which he exhorts us to love the Church.
“In order that such a solid and undivided love of the Church may abide and increase in our souls day by day, w e must accustom ourselves to see Christ Himself in the Church. For it is Christ who lives in His Church, and through her teaches, governs and sanctifies.”2
Catholics today, subject as they are bound to be to the influence of the propaganda and the attitudes of the world around them, are in some danger of failing to appreciate the complete reality of Our Lord’s presence within the visible Catholic Church. Amidst the turmoil of pressure in favor of “inter-faith” movements and the like, there is an almost inevitable tendency to imagine that Christ is in the Church only in a kind of imaginary or metaphorical way. That unfortunate tendency is sometimes aided and increased by books and instructions which, though otherwise creditable, constantly persist in employing metaphors and other figurative expressions in dealing with the Church’s relations to Our Lord. For one reason or another, modern men and women are inclined to discount as imaginary or unreal, and therefore as basically unimportant, any subject which is presented to them in predominantly metaphorical terms.
Failure to appreciate the full reality of Our Lord’s presence within the Catholic Church is responsible for one unfortunate and even dangerous phenomenon in modern religious writing. This is the habit of placing the true Church of Jesus Christ, if not on a level with other religious societies, at least in the same general class with these outside organizations. In some cases this tendency resolves itself into the essentially Protestant tactic of imagining the existence of an invisible church, an assembly of good-intentioned men and women of all religions, which is supposed to constitute the true Mystical Body of Jesus Christ.
Likewise forgetfulness of the fact that Christ really lives and acts within the Catholic Church leads to the mistaken but unfortunately all-too-prevalent belief that the essential difference between the Catholic Church and other religious societies is to be found in the fact that the Catholic Church teaches he entirety of religious truth while these other organizations present only a portion of it. Such a difference does in fact exist, but it is by no means the ultimate and essential distinction. In the last analysis the real reason why the Catholic Church is something apart from and superior to all of the other religious societies in the world is to he found in the fact that Our Lord actually dwells within this Catholic Church and within it alone. Within this society, and in no other way, do we find the fellowship of Christ, our God and our Redeemer.
CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH DURING HIS PUBLIC LIFE
It is quite impossible to appreciate the reality of Our Lord’s presence within the Church today unless we consider carefully His position within the society of His disciples prior to the time of His ascension into heaven. The fact of the matter is that, although Christ’s sacred body is now located in heaven, and hence in a place far remote from that in which His followers do His will in this world, the basic and essential relation of the Church to Our Lord remains unaltered. He lives and acts in the Church, He speaks to the world from out of the Church, in essentially the same way today as He did during the period intervening between His baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan and His ascension into heaven.
The Catholic Church, the Kingdom of God in the New Testament, started out as a band of disciples or learners, gathered around and ruled by Our Lord, acting in His capacity as the Teacher of the divinely revealed public revelation. Men and women were admitted to this group only by personal invitation, issued by Our Lord Himself. The company had neither reason for nor bond of corporate existence apart from Christ. He was not merely present within the group, but the company itself was seen and understood preeminently in terms of its association with Him. Looking back on the days of Our Lord’s public life, St. Peter could refer to the original members of the band as those “who have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, until the day wherein he was taken from us.”3
Knabenbauer notes that the Greek words είσήλθεν καί έξήλθεν which the Douai renders as “came in and went out” constitute an authentic Hebraism, found in many sections of the Old Testament.4 The expression signifies an intimate and continual association. The Greek τών σμνελθόντων ήμίν rendered as “who have companied with us,” involves another form of the word έσχομαι and gives point to the truth that not only the twelve, but the rest of the company of the disciples as well, were continually in the presence of the Master. Thus the Church was originally, as it is now, the group of men and women in the company of Christ.
Long before the ascension, however, Our Lord taught His disciples that He would be present among them even while they were in a place remote from that which He occupied. To the seventy-two whom He sent on a preaching mission during the course of His public life He said: “He that heareth you heareth me.”5 That notice, as it stands, contains far more than the mere declaration that these men were appointed as His representatives. It implied that these preachers who had received their mission from Him within His Church actually spoke to the people with His voice, in such a way that the persons who heard them listened to the voice of Christ.
Not only did Our Lord speak in and through the disciples whom He commissioned to preach in His name, but He habitually spoke to the multitudes from the midst of the disciples, who formed a group apart. Both St. Matthew and St. Luke make this clear in describing the setting of the Sermon on the Mount. St. Matthew tells us that “seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. And opening his mouth, he taught them.”6 St. Luke writes that “coming down with them [the twelve apostles], he stood in a plain place: and the company of his disciples and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast, both of Tyre and Sidon”7 were there to hear Him. Our Lord spoke to the multitudes in parables. He explained these parables to the disciples.
Furthermore, during the course of Our Lord’s public life, His enemies were so aware of the intimate union of the corps of the disciples with Him that they spoke in such a way as to hold Him responsible for the actions of His followers, the members of the Church, and conversely they considered the disciples responsible for Him. When the scribes and the pharisees saw Our Lord and His disciples partaking of the banquet which St. Matthew had given to celebrate his call to the company of Christ, they angrily questioned the disciples about Our Lord’s conduct and about their own.8 The question addressed to the disciples was answered by Our Lord Himself. Again, when the pharisees objected to the disciples’ practice of plucking and eating grains of wheat on the Sabbath, Christ answered for them and defended them.9
During the time of Our Lord’s public life, then, He was not only locally present among His disciples, the men and women who then constituted the Catholic Church, the true Church of the New Testament, but He also worked within this group, teaching and ruling and sanctifying the society and its individual members. He taught them directly. He taught the multitudes, the people whom He was preparing for the call into the society of the disciples, in His capacity as the Head of the company of the disciples. Furthermore He taught the multitudes Himself in and through the preaching of the disciples.
Up until the time of the ascension Our Lord was the only visible Ruler of the company of the disciples. It is perfectly true that, as a part of the course of divine instruction which He gave to his followers, He promised and announced that Peter was to possess a real primacy of jurisdiction over his fellow disciples, but even then it was made perfectly clear to Peter and to the rest that the authority was to be exercised over the Church which would always belong to Christ.10 Thus the governing authority which was promised to Peter was that of Christ’s vicar on earth. Furthermore a definite social authority was promised to the entire membership of the apostolic college, but this, too, was something subject to the power of Peter within the Church of Christ.11
It was not, however, until just before the ascension that the jurisdiction which had been promised to the Prince of the Apostles and to the apostolic college as a whole was actually given by Our Lord.12 Up until the moment of the ascension, the complete rule and direction of the society came visibly from Christ, visibly dwelling and working within that organization. Visibly and truly then, and invisibly though just as truly now, every order emanating from a superior within the Catholic Church was and is the command of Christ. Both the rule within the Catholic Church and the monarchical and hierarchical organization within which the followers of Christ are to be guided and sanctified until the end of time were the personal work of Our Lord.
Christ sanctified His society and its members, not merely by giving them the teaching of holiness, but by communicating the life of grace to the individual disciples within the Church and to the company itself as a whole. He, the Master and Lord, around whom the society itself was constructed, earned the remission of sins and the life of divine grace for men through His death on the cross. He brought that life of grace to his followers through the channels of that sacramental activity which He instituted within His Church. He gave His disciples the gift of newness of life, separating them from the world and sealing them to Himself through the Sacrament of Baptism which He inaugurated. He constituted that sign as the rite of initiation into His company in such a way that it was ready for use as a gateway into the Church and a departure from the generation ruled over by the prince of this world at the very moment of the Church’s first missionary activity after the ascension.13 Then and now it is Christ Himself who communicates the grace, and Christ Himself who is the principal agent of baptism. “The bodily ministry,” said St. Augustine, “was the contribution of the disciples. His contribution was the aid of majesty.”14 He was present and He remains present to the Church in the work of baptism.
As the perfective center of the sacramental system within the Catholic Church He instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In this rite, which is preeminently the act of the Church as His Mystical Body,15 He is truly, really, and substantially present under the accidents of bread and wine. Furthermore at every Mass He is present to His Church as the High Priest, offering this true and commemorative sacrifice through the instrumentality of his priest as the ultimate cohesive sign and force of the unity of His society. He was visibly and truly living in the Church when He instituted and first confected this Sacrament. He remains invisibly and no less truly living in the Church through this Eucharistic Sacrifice today. In His Sacerdotal Prayer, set forth in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, He petitioned the Father that the assembly of the disciples might remain one with Him. St. Paul tells us that, even in Heaven, His prayer of intercession for us continues. 16
THE DEPARTURE AND THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF OUR LORD
With Our Lord’s ascension into heaven a new status of the Church of Jesus Christ came into being. That society had been gathered together, organized, and conducted in the visible and local presence of its divine Founder. Now, with the ascension, that visible and local presence was taken away, not to be restored to the disciples of Christ as a complete society until that day when the Church will finally see Him again and forever at His second advent. The place in which Christ dwells locally is heaven. Since His ascension, as the epistles of St. Paul especially show so well, the Church on earth labors and struggles against its spiritual and earthly adversaries in order to enjoy the visible presence of Christ once again.
To sustain the society of His disciples during the period in which it suffers the loss of the visible presence of its divine Founder, He promised and gave to the Church the indwelling Spirit of Truth and Love.17 This indwelling of the Blessed Trinity within the Catholic Church, appropriated by Our Blessed Lord Himself to the Holy Ghost, gives the Church the understanding and the fortitude requisite for its task of acting as the instrument of Christ in calling and aiding men to salvation and in overthrowing the efforts of the world against God. By reason of His divine nature Our Lord thus continues, though invisible, to reside within the Church, to guide and to instruct it, to sustain it and to give it strength. Moreover, in His human nature also, Our Lord remains within the Church. He told His disciples that they would see Him no longer,18 but He also promised them that He would be with them until the consummation of the world.19 The promise of His continued though invisible presence and the accomplishment of that promise were given to the disciples as Christ had formed them, organized into a society which is His Mystical Body on earth.
THE INDWELLING OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO HIS DIVINE NATURE
In His divine nature Christ is in all created things according to the three ways which St. Thomas Aquinas designates as essence, presence and power.20 God can be said to be in all things in so far as He keeps them in existence, in so far as they are visible to Him and subject to His power. In this way Our Lord remains within the Church, sustaining it and preserving it for what it is and what He made it, His true Church and the sole ark of salvation on earth. He sees it, and He is available to the prayers of mankind. Since true prayer is essentially the petition of fitting things from God 21 and since a thing is truly fitting only if it is in line towards salvation and union with God in heaven, the divine work of hearing and answering prayers on earth is in itself a mode of indwelling within the Catholic Church.
This does not mean, of course, that only the prayers of those who are truly disciples of Christ and thus truly members of the Catholic Church are heard and answered by God. It is perfectly true that the prayer of the Church is always answered because this is, in the last analysis, the prayer of Christ Himself. But all true prayer has its efficacy from this central petition to God, and all true prayer is answered in so far as the essential and central good sought in the petition is concerned. This dominant petition is always for God’s glory, to be attained through the granting of eternal life to men. Since, in the providence of God, eternal salvation or the attainment of eternal life is to be achieved only through association with Christ through membership in the Catholic Church or through the sincere desire for that association, the granting of the petition of prayer by God constitutes a divine indwelling in the true Church, drawing men to this society and strengthening them in its life and in its communion.
According to this same divine presence, through the power of God the Church is kept safe from the attacks of its enemies and preserved against the dissolution which would naturally be the lot of any merely human society. The divine protection accorded to the Church is in itself easily visible to mankind. As the recipient of this protection against the forces which naturally tend to overthrow and transform merely human organizations, the Church is visible in the world as a social miracle, and thus, according to the Vatican Council, it stands as a true and perpetual motive of credibility and as a real witness of its own status as the bearer of divine revelation.22
There is one, and according to St. Thomas Aquinas, only one, distinctively supernatural and invisible mode of the divine indwelling. It is the divine presence according to the activity of sanctifying grace,23 according to which God really dwells in those creatures whom He strengthens and renders competent to live the divine life of the Beatific Vision. In this way God is present to a man who is in a position to see God as He is in Himself, rather than merely to recognize the fact of His existence by a recognition of the truth that there must be a First Cause of created things. The man who lives the life of grace in this world possesses charity, and possesses the life to which the Beatific Vision itself belongs, even though, by reason of his status as a viator, he does not exercise the act of the Beatific Vision. Christ, as God, is present in every person who has this life of grace. It is the presence of which He was speaking when He told his apostles: “If any one love me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him: and we will come to him and will make our abode with him.’’24
According to this intrinsically supernatural mode of divine presence, Our Lord lives within the Church, drawing men into it and strengthening them in its communion. Those who have the life of grace must be either members of the Church or sincerely, albeit perhaps only implicitly, intend to enter it. By dwelling in the souls of those who love Him and the Father, Christ thus lives really and actually within the visible society which He founded and over which He presides.
Moreover there is still another way in which Our Lord can truly be said to dwell within the Catholic Church according to the divine indwelling in line with the life of sanctifying grace. The life of grace and charity is more than a merely individual affair. It is something which has a corporate existence and a corporate expression. The corporate life of grace within the world is that divine charity of which the only authorized and authentic expression is the Eucharistic sacrifice. Although that sacrifice can be performed by a priest not in communion with the true Church, it remains properly and essentially the act of the Church, and the indwelling of Christ in the society of His disciples is thus the source of the Eucharistic liturgical activity, the visible sacrifice within the Church which is the expression and the manifestation of the invisible sacrifice of prayer and devotion and charity among the children of men.
THE INDWELLING OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO HIS HUMAN NATURE
According to His sacred human nature, Our Lord remains truly though invisibly resident within the Catholic Church in governing, instructing, and sanctifying this society. He rules the disciples within the Church invisibly and directly. At time same time His divine teaching within the Church makes it perfectly clear that the judgments and the commands of the Church officers who hold their position by reason of the commission which He has given them are to be accepted by the disciples as His judgments and His commands. This presence of Christ in the Church as its supreme though invisible Ruler is the guarantee of and the reason for the Church’s indefectibility. It is manifestly impossible that a society within which Christ governs until the end of time can ever lose its identity or the substantial character which He gave to it.
Now, as during the period of His public life in this world, the Church speaks to the world with the voice of Christ. He it is who teaches within the Church and who, from out of the Church, teaches and calls the men in the world. Furthermore Christ, truly present in the Church, perfects and authenticates the divine message winch He preaches through the Church by sealing that doctrine with motive of credibility. St. Mark’s Gospel says of the apostles that “they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.”25 The presence of Christ teaching within the Church is the cause an[d] the explanation of the Church’s infallibility. It is obviously impossible for an institution within which Christ will dwell until the end of time and from which He teaches to do other than set forth his teaching, accurately.
St. Clement of Rome in his epistle to the Corinthians speaks of Our Lord living in the Church as “the high priest of our offerings.” 26 In His human nature He continues to sanctify the Church by communicating the life of grace in the channels of those sacraments which He instituted and of which, in His human nature, He continues to act as the principal agent. As the high priest forever, offering the sacrifice of the New Law, He effectuates and expresses the unity of that society which He holds in existence and over which He presides.
OUR TWOFOLD BOND OF UNION WITH CHRIST
The classical Catholic ecclesiologists and more recently the Holy Father’s encyclical Mystici Corporis speak of two different kinds of forces which bring us into union with Our Lord within the Church. The first of these, the so-called external or bodily bond of union, includes those factors which together constitute a man as a true member of the society of the disciples. The second, the internal or spiritual bond, is composed of those elements which go to make a man a living member of this society. Both of these bonds bring us into contact with Our Lord dwelling within the Catholic Church. The fault which vitiated many of the earlier twentieth century writings of the Mystical Body was an absolute neglect of the external bond of unity with Christ.
A man is joined to Our Lord within the Church by the external bond of unity when he has the profession of the true divine faith, the communication of the sacraments, and subjection to his legitimate ecclesiastical superiors.27 The external profession of the true faith involves contact with Christ dwelling within the Catholic Church because it means the visible acceptance of that message which Christ teaches infallibly here and now within the Catholic Church and which men receive only from the Church. Communication of the divine sacraments is available only to one who has the baptismal character, and who, consequently, has been invited or called personally by Our Lord to enter into the company of His followers. Furthermore this communication is open only to those baptized persons who have not been cast out by the Church, and who have not abandoned that society which is the fellowship of Christ. Subjection to legitimate ecclesiastical superiors carries with it the acceptance of that authority which speaks and commands with the voice of Our Lord Himself.
Through the internal bond of union within the Catholic Church we come into vital contact with Christ residing in the Church in the possession of faith, hope, and charity.28 By faith we have in our own minds that truth which Christ comprehends as God in the divine understanding, which, as Man, He sees in the Beatific Vision, and which He preaches in the Church. Through Christian hope we long for the intuitive vision of the divine essence and for the visible presence of Christ which belongs to, and on the last day will be granted to, the Catholic Church within which He resides. By charity we love Christ who lives in our soul, and who gives us our love for God and our fellow men within the society of His disciples.
It is this life of Christ within the Catholic Church which makes this visible society a mystery of our faith. The mystery of the Church is, as it were, the center of the divine economy with mankind. The Church within which Our Lord lives and works is that visible organization within which bad members will be mingled with the good until the day of judgment. Yet it is the Church apart from which we shall not find Christ. Our Lord’s presence within this visible society is not imaginary but real and active. “Wherever Jesus Christ is,” said St. Ignatius of Antioch, “there is the Catholic Church.”29
The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
JOSEPH CLIFFORD FENTON
1. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXXV (1943), 237.
2. Ibid., 238.
3. Acts 1:21-22.
4. Cf. Commentarius in Actus Apostolorum (Paris: P. Lethielleux, 1928), p.36
5. Luke 16:16; cf. Matt. 10:40.
6. Matt. 5:1.
7. Luke 6:17.
8. Cf. Matt. 9:11; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30.
9. Cf. Matt. 12:1 ff; Mark 2:23 ff; Luke 6:1 ff.
10. Cf. Matt. 16 :18-19.
11. Cf. Matt. 18:18.
12 Cf. John 20:22-23; 21:15 ff.
13. Cf. Acts 2:41.
14. In Ioan., XV, c. 3
15. Cf. the article “The Act of the Mystical Body,” The American Ecclesiastical Review, C, 5 (May, 1939), 397 ff, and the discussion occasioned by this article, AER, CII, 4 (April, 1940), pp. 306 ff.
16. Cf. Rom. 8:34.
17. Cf John 14:16.
18. Cf. John 16:10.
19. Cf. Matt. 28:20.
20. Cf. Sum. theol., I, q. 8, a. 3.
21. Cf. St. John Damascene, De fide orthodoxa, III, c. 24, and the author’s The Theology of Prayer (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1939), pp. 1 ff.
22. Cf. DB 1794.
23. Cf. Sum. theol., 1, q. 43, a. 3.
24. John 14:23.
25. Mark 16:20.
26. Cap. 36, n. 1.
27. Cf. St. Robert Bellarmine, De controversiis christianae fidei adversus huius temporis haereticos, Tom. I, Quartae controversiae generalis, Lib. III, De ecclesia militante, cap. 2 (Ingolstadt, 1586), col. 1264.
28. Ibid.
29. Ad Smyrnaeos, cap. 8, n. 2.
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